St. Paul Central’s Thomas Bump enters the game late in the first half and beats St. Paul Como Park goalie Emmanuel Molinos Lopez, scoring the game-winner to keep the Minutemen undefeated in league play Tuesday. Photo by Earl J. Ebensteiner, SportsEngine
St. Paul Central’s Henry Manerowski comes off the bench and stops an Abdirashid Mire penalty shot late in the second half in the Minutemen's a 2-1 win at home on a rainy Tuesday night. Photo by Earl J. Ebensteiner, SportsEngine
With a 2-1 lead and 15 minutes remaining in Tuesday’s game, St. Paul Central looked to be on its way to victory when a penalty was called, awarding a penalty kick to St. Paul Como Park. Under pressure on the line, Central goalkeeper Owen Brooks came up with a huge save, or so it seemed.
Brooks was called for leaving the box early, which was followed by a yellow card. Minutemen coach David Albornoz didn’t like the call, and was ejected from the game with a red card.
With Brooks out, backup goalie Henry Manerowski came off the bench to try and stop Como Park on the second penalty kick.
Manerowski said he knew where the ball was going as he ran onto the field.
“I knew before I stepped on the field, he was going bottom left,” he said.
And bottom left the shot went. Manerowski blocked the shot, and saved the game for Central (14-1-1, 11-0-0), which kept its unblemished St. Paul City Conference record intact by defeating Como Park 2-1 at Central High School.
St. Paul Central held off St. Paul Como Park 2-1 in a St. Paul City Conference duel on a wet and soggy Tuesday night at Central High School.
Max Hand opened the scoring early, finding the back of the net just five minutes into the match to give the Minutemen, ranked No. 9 in the Class 2A coaches’ poll, an early 1-0 advantage.
The Cougars (8-6-1, 6-5-0) weren’t fazed, however, as Boe Reh sliced through the Central (14-1-0, 11-0-0) defense before tying the game 10 minutes in.
The game-winning goal came from Central junior Thomas Bump, who first entered the game with only eight minutes left in the first half. After 10 seconds on the field, Bump beat the Como Park goalie to the ball to chip in the go-ahead goal.
The Cougars’ Boe Reh (16) scored the only goal for the Cougars in their 2-1 loss to the Minutemen Tuesday night at St. Paul Central. Photo by Earl J. Ebensteiner, SportsEngine
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