With the season on the line, and following a scoreless first half by both teams, Hermantown rallied for a 2-0 victory over Grand Rapids in a Section 7AA high school boys soccer semifinal on Thursday night at Corey Veech Memorial Field at Centricity Stadium.
Hunter Nelson and Owen Landrigan scored second-half goals and sophomore goaltender Nolan Manion recorded five saves for the Hawks, who advance to face Cloquet-Esko-Carlton for the 7AA championship Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Members Cooperative Credit Union Stadium in Cloquet.
"We played poorly in the first half against a very good Grand Rapids team and were fortunate to go into the half tied scoreless," Hermantown coach David Thompson said afterward. "The team challenged themselves at halftime and spoke very clearly with one another about what needed to change. I was impressed with our leadership in that situation and even more impressed with the response I saw in the second half. Our entire energy was better and we played extremely unselfishly and with great motivation.
"Hunter had a beautiful strike from outside of the 18 that hit just inside the upper right corner and gave us a one-goal lead. Instead of letting up, our team continued to play with intensity and Owen scored a breakaway goal in the 70th minute to make it a two-goal game. Nolan, our reserve goalkeeper who was forced to step in four weeks ago for our injured starting keeper Ethan Aysta, played with poise and recorded the shutout."
Hermantown (12-3-3) will be a decided underdog against top-seeded Cloquet-Esko-Carlton (14-3-0).
"The matchup with C-E-C is much anticipated as they have defeated us twice (4-1, 3-0) already this season," said Thompson. "I believe it will be an incredibly competitive section final match."