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Huskies advance to section soccer final

OHS, huskies, soccers
Ty Svenby of the Huskies takes a shot against Northfield last week. Svenby was credited with an assist after finding Blake Burmeister on a set piece to secure the 1-0 win over Rochester John Marshall late last week. Staff photo by Sevy Enter
By
Johnnie Phillips, Sports Editor

After securing two gritty wins in the opening and semifinal rounds of the Section 1AAA tournament, Owatonna’s boys soccer team progressed to the section championship game against Rochester Mayo.

Owatonna earned its trip to Rochester to face the Spartans after beating Northfield and Rochester John Marshall both by scores of 1-0.

In the semifinal game, Owatonna found itself in a dogfight with the Rockets as both teams battled for possession and benefitted from scarce offensive opportunities.

After taking a 0-0 tie to halftime, both teams returned to the field and picked up right hwere they left off, carrying the 0-0 tie into the end of regulation.

As is standard for MSHSL tournament play, both teams played an overtime period to determine a winner, where Owatonna prevailed behind a goal from defenseman Blake Burmeister to break the tie at 1-0.

Burmeister’s goal came off of a header to the top left corner of the net after a perfect set-piece pass from midfielder Ty Svenby found the defenseman lurking on the back post.

The goal was Burmeister’s fourth of the season and first since a hat trick performance on Sept. 1.

Earlier in the week, Owatonna had to go through Northfield in order to keep its season alive.

In similar fashion, the Huskies and Raiders kept a clean sheet through the first half, before Owatonna was able to find the winning goal in the second half behind a shot from midfielder Ashton Kraus.

Kraus was able to score from inside the Northfield penalty box with some nifty footwork to cross up a Raiders defender and the goaltender after receiving a through ball pass from midfielder Rolando Maya.

Owatonna faced Rochester Mayo on Tuesday to determine the Section 1AAA championship winner, however, results from the game were not made available at the time of press.

A win by Owatonna would mean that the Huskies advance ot the state tournament for the first time since 2016 when the team lost 5-0 in the opening game to Wayzata.

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