Recap: Before this year, Hill-Murray seniors Shae Bottum, Peter Blaney and Joseph Schaefer — four-year varsity veterans all — had never won a section playoff game together. Now they’re one victory away from a state championship.

The Pioneers (13-4-3) got a goal from Bottum only 1 minute, 56 seconds into the game and made it stand up, defeating Waconia in the Class 1A semifinals.
“That’s how we get most of our goals, in the first 10 minutes,” said Blaney, who assisted on the goal. “It puts the other team on their heels and lets us control the pace of the game.”

Quote: “Peter, Joseph and I had played a lot together in our freshman year and we’ve never won until this year. This year we decided to play for it a lot harder. And we’ve managed to get farther.” — Bottum

One thing to know: The Pioneers controlled play from the outset and could have scored more, but had two shots bounce off the goalposts, including a penalty kick by Bottum in the first half, and another hit the crossbar.

JIM PAULSEN