By Bruce Karnick

The top four teams in the Metro East Conference will play each other to determine the Champion before heading to Sections. Mahtomedi earned the one seed, Hill-Murray the two, Hastings the three and Henry Sibley the four. All four teams are very capable and talented teams, which is good for fans of soccer.

The Raider ladies travelled to Hill-Murray to take on the Pioneers and Henry Sibley faced Mahtomedi on September 29th for the start of the Conference Championships. The Warriors and Zephyrs ended in a 0-0 tie. Hastings and Hill-Murray did see some points get put on the board. Hastings logged a goal by #12 Lauren Hubbart with an assist from #9 Bella Meier. Unfortunately for the Raiders, the Pioneers would sneak one past the Raider Keeper, #00 Kaitlin Petrich. In the end, the game would remain tied, 1-1.

Friday October Second, all four teams would travel to Hastings to play at Todd Field. Henry Sibley and Hill-Murray would take the field for the early match up, with Hastings vs Mahtomedi at 7:00. A cool side note to this story is, with the 250-spectator limit, Hastings Community Television setup early to broadcast not just the Hastings game, but both games. Hill-Murray vs Henry Sibley would end in a 0-0 tie and the already cool night became downright cold by the start of the Hastings versus Mahtomedi game. The Zephyrs scored in the first half and had a 1-0 to start the second. Coach Meier’s half time pep talk could not overcome the cold in the air for long. The Raiders came out fighting but could not take advantage of the few chances they had. #6 Emma Langefeld came off the field for breather and some water and said, “It’s so cold, which is fine if you are moving, but when that ball hits you, it just hurts.” Both teams were held scoreless in the last 39:50 of the game. At was with 10 seconds left in the game, Mahtomedi would sneak an additional goal past Petrich to win 2-0. The looks on the faces of the Raiders post game said they knew they let one get away that they should have had.

For those Keeping track at home, here are the team records in the 3 game playoffs Mahtomedi 1-0-1, Two Goals for, Zero against Hill Murray 0-0-2, One Goal For, One Goal Against Henry Sibley 0-0-2, Zero Goals For, Zero Goals Against Hastings 0-1-1, One Goal For, Three Goals Against All four teams will be at Mahtomedi on October Sixth. Hastings will face Henry Sibley and Mahtomedi will face Hill-Murray. It will be interesting to see the tie breakers for this format if Hastings wins and Mahtomedi loses. In the year of COVID, anything can happen. Regardless, the girls have fought hard and will play more games in the section tournament with dates TBD. Good skill ladies and GO RAIDERS!

Girls Soccer played game 2 of the conference championship series on Friday October 2nd. The game did not go as they had hoped and they fell 2-0 to Mahtomedi. Photo by Bruce Karnick

September 29th, in Tuesday nights tie against Hill Murray, the lone goal for Hastings was scored by #12 Lauren Hubbart with an assist going to #9 Bella Meier. Photo Courtesty of Tricia Pelava