By Bruce Karnick

The final was 6-0 in favor of North St. Paul to start the Raider Boys season back in August; a loss that would give the Raiders a five-game losing streak. A loss that would see the Raiders score only two goals in five games but allow 27 goals in those same five games. When the Raiders took the pitch at Henry Sibley on Wednesday October Seventh against North for the second time this season, they were confident they could win. Earlier in the week, Simon Hedin was excited for the rematch.

“We are playing our best soccer of the season right now,” Hedin said. “Compared to the last game against them, our fitness is better, our game plan is better, and our team chemistry is better.”

Hedin was right to be excited. Raiders were on a roll and had imporved. The phrase “playing our best soccer right now,” and “peaking at the right time,” has been heard and said numerous times. There was a buzz in the air at Warrior pitch; fans, coaches and players were energized. The Raiders versus Polars match was taking place at Henry Sibley because of the Conference Championships scheduling this year, North was assigned as the home team.

In the first half, Hastings would take the lead on a goal by Senior #13, Matthew Qualy. “I just told Steve over here,” as he points to #6 Steve Krey, “to play me up the line on the side. I ran around the defense, ended up beating another defender and scored,” Qualy said after the game. Shortly after his first goal, Qualy would give the Raiders a two-goal lead. “On the second one, I ran behind the center back, who I play with at club, so I know he’s a good defender, so he’s gonna be hard to beat. [#9] Gabe Sanchez plays a beautiful ball through the middle and we scored the second goal.” The boys were aggressive, keeping the pressure on North the majority of the first half. That pressure would lead them to a 3-0 lead when Qualy made a beautiful pass to #20 Danny Millner, who knocked it past the North Keeper. North would get one back with less than a minute to go in the first half, making it 3-1 Hastings at halftime.

The second half was a fight. North became the aggressor. It was obvious they remembered the 6-0 thumping from the first meeting, and they started the first half confident they could roll over Hastings. As the second half progressed, that confidence started to change to panic. Then, North would close the gap and make is a one goal game.

Coach Jamie Swanson had a plan, and it had been working. Offsides in soccer is not like hockey or football. There is no set line on a pitch for offsides. Offsides is determined by the second closest player to the defending goal, including the keeper. If the keeper is in front of one defender 30 yards from the goal, they are the offsides line. If the keeper is in the goal, the closest defender is the offsides line. Swanson’s plan was to keep his guys as close to midfield as possible and let North’s aggressive game plan work against them. It did, really well. Multiple passes to North players were called for offsides.

With Hastings holding on to a one goal lead, things became intense.

“The second half, the nerves started to hit. It’s tough holding a one goal lead like that. You know, when they are sending like 10 people on and corners,” Keeper Carter Homb stated. With the score still in favor of the Raiders 3-2, North gave the Raiders a scare. Ok, not a scare, it was a heart attack moment. The ball was put into play off a corner kick in front of the Hastings goal. Homb could not quite reach it before it was headed into the crossbar. A Hastings defender tried to head it out of the box but then a North player managed to head it back in. Another header attempt at a goal bounced off the crossbar a second time before Hastings was able to clear it with a header of their own.

Hastings went on to win the game 3-2. Homb began to explain the rest of his second half performance, “I feel like I could have done better the second half to waste some time…” “YOU DID SO GOOD DUDE!” Coach Swanson jumped in on the interview to praise his keeper. That lead to the question, how bad was your heart racing when they were playing pinball with their heads out there in front of the goal? “Yeah, that was, that was WILD. It was off a corner [kick] the tall center back, who is very talented, hit it off the crossbar and it came out, one of our players headed it away and then another header right on the crossbar. Yeah, the crossbar was my friend today,” Holm said relieved. Ahhh yes, the crossbar, the goalie’s best friend or worst enemy.

After the game, Coach Swanson was once again proud of his guys. They fought hard to improve their positioning for section seeding and to keep the momentum going. “That one was a long time coming. We’ve sniffed close victories, we lost in sections two years ago 2-1 on a crazy play when we should have moved on. It seems we always get sniped by North Saint Paul,” an emotional Swanson reminisced, “but today… today was our day.”

Hastings’ win over North helped put them in the fourth seed for sections. They will be playing their first home section game in a long time, this Wednesday, October 14th, against White Bear Lake at 4:30 p.m. Hastings was scheduled to play them this year, but with the schedule changes, that game was scratched. Last year, Hastings did get a win against them in White Bear Lake, but Coach Swanson was quick to remind us, “But this is a different team we are playing of course.”