At Benilde-St. Margaret's, the girls have a certain standard to uphold and expectations to meet when it comes to their soccer program.

So when the Red Knights watched the state tournament from the sidelines last November and saw the title that they had held the previous two years be handed to another team, it did not sit well.

"Losing in the section final is not where we wanted to end up (last year)," Benilde-St. Margaret's senior captain Aleksa Tataryn says. "It lit a fire for us to put in the work over the summer to make sure that didn't happen again."

It most certainly did not.

The top-seeded Red Knights needed just 55 seconds to stake an early lead they would eventually add to, and Benilde-St. Margaret's emphatically punched its ticket to the Class 1A state tournament with a 3-0 victory over No. 2-seeded Blake Friday night in St. Louis Park High School.

"Our seniors, having experienced the 2013 championship, they were NOT happy with the way last season ended," Red Knights coach Scott Helling-Christy said. "They definitely came back hungry and motivated."

Tataryn and the team's other senior captains, Sophie Roux and Emily Schmitz, looked within their collective game and sought ways to plug any leaks. Chemistry was worked on, passing touches became more important, and Benilde-St. Margaret's tinkered and toiled to find ways to better spring its speed.

In Friday night's Section 5 final, those skills and wheels were on display.

Roux scored the first goal of the match, and the Red Knights added another midway through the first half when Madison Stoks fired one home with an assist from Tataryn to establish some early separation and force the Bears to chase from behind.

The lead increased in the 58th minute when Tataryn tallied a goal, her team-leading 16th of the season, and Benilde-St. Margaret's was well upon its way. 

"We are blessed to have have players with this kind of speed," Helling-Christy said. "We like to slot the ball through and see if we can get somebody on the end of it."

Well-placed through balls led to scores on two of the Red Knights' three goals against Blake.

Benilde-St. Margaret's (17-1-1), ranked No. 1 in the season's final Class 1A coaches' poll, continued its impressive run through the section playoffs in which it did not allow a single goal while rolling up 18 scores in three games.

The victory puts the Red Knights back in the state tournament for the fifth time in the last six years, returning from a one-year hiatus after falling to Orono last year in the Section 6A final. 

No. 5-1A Blake (12-5-2) has its season come to an end at the section final for a second straight year and with its second loss to Benilde-St. Margaret's in two tries this year.

Top-seeded Benilde-St. Margaret's needed just 55 seconds to stake an early lead it would eventually add to, and the Red Knights emphatically punched their ticket to the Class 1A state tournament with a 3-0 victory over No. 2-seeded Blake Friday night at St. Louis Park High School.

Benilde-St. Margaret's senior Sophie Roux scored the first goal, and the Red Knights added another midway through the first half when Madison Stoks fired one home with an assist to Aleksa Tataryn to establish some early separation and force the Bears to chase from behind.

The lead increased in the 58th minute when Tataryn tallied a goal, her team-leading 16th of the season, and Benilde-St. Margaret's was well upon its way.  

The Red Knights (17-1-1), ranked No. 1 in the season's final Class 1A coaches' poll, continued their impressive run through the section playoffs in which they did not allow a single goal while rolling up 18 scores in three games.

The victory puts Benilde-St. Margaret's into the state tournament for the fifth time in the last six years, as the Red Knights return from a one-year hiatus after falling to Orono last year in the Section 6 final. 

No. 5-1A Blake (12-5-2) has its season come to an end at the section final for a second straight year and with its second loss to Benilde-St. Margaret's in two tries this year. Bears goalie Robyn Lipschultz made four saves in the loss Friday night.

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