EP soccer boys push Hornets to the limit

Edina High’s boys soccer team won the last game of the Lake Conference season 2-1 over Eden Prairie Oct. 1 at Kuhlman Field, but the Hornets left the pitch not knowing if they had earned a share of the league title.

“It depends how they count the points,” Edina head coach Dave Jenson said.

The scenario shapes up this way: Edina finished conference play 4-0-2 and Minnetonka would up 5-1-0. In the National Hockey League, they would be tied with the same number of points, but the Lake Conference isn’t the NHL.

“We will wait to hear from the conference,” Jenson said.

The win over Eden Prairie was hard-earned because Edina played the final 65 minutes of the match a man short, due to a red-card foul.

“That is the longest I can remember playing a man short,” coach Jenson said. “The referee called it right.”

With only 10 men on the field, including the goalie, Edina had to play conservatively and avoid picking up another red-card foul. Goalkeeper Tyler Baker was solid. Eden Prairie’s only goal came on a penalty kick.

Edina had a little bit of a cushion early when captain Andreas Engle scored two minutes into the match on an assist from Topher Fullerton.

Engle was involved in the other Edina goal as he picked up an assist on a score by sophomore forward Henry Banks.

Coach Jenson mentioned how dangerous Eden Prairie can be with a man advantage. Playing short-handed, Edina used a shorter bench rotation with Engle, Banks, Tommy Ott, Liam Garner, Haden Smith, Stellan Twill Ronan McArdle and Hunter Fey logging a lot of minutes.

Co-head coach Jim Williams of Eden Prairie said, “We hit a crossbar, we had some chances on scrambles in front of the net, but we couldn’t score the equalizer.”

Junior midfielder Zeljko Vucinic scored Eden Prairie’s lone goal on the penalty kick in the first half. Senior striker Lucatoni Banegas created the opportunity when he was taken down from behind on his way to the net.

“That’s an automatic red card,” coach Williams noted.

Next for Eden Prairie and Edina is the Section 2AAA Tournament, which was set to begin Wednesday, Oct. 9, with both the Eagles and the Hornets getting home games.

“In section tournaments for any high school sport, there are going to be some upsets in the playoffs,” Williams said. Most years, the championship comes down to an Edina-Minnetonka match in the finals, but it’s not always that way.

Like most other coaches, Williams and co-head coach Rob St. Clair are making sure they have their rotations down in case a playoff match is decided by penalty kicks. “We have to identify 10 shooters, and we’re down to 13 [as of Oct. 2],” Williams said.

If Edina gets into a penalty-kick contest, Edina coaches Jenson and Billy Garner have an ace in the hole with senior captain on defense Tommy Ott. Both Eden Prairie and Edina go into the playoffs with full-time senior starters in goal - Nathan Louwagie for Eden Prairie and Baker for Edina. Minnetonka also has an outstanding senior goalie - Alex Keekley.