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Blake shuts out Lourdes

By Star Tribune, 10/31/11, 3:00PM CDT

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It was the 15th time this year that the Bears held an opponent scoreless.


Rochester Lourdes goalie Marissa DiCecco tries in vain to stop Blake's second goal in its 2-0 win. Star Tribune photo by Richard Sennott.

Blake defender Lauren Kelly wondered if teammate Hannah Randolph’s breakaway goal late in Monday’s game would hold up.
 
Randolph beat a line of Rochester Lourdes defenders attempting an offside trap and scored the clinching goal in Blake’s 2-0 victory in the Class 1A state soccer semifinals. Kelly worried an official would rule Randolph offside but the call never came.
 
“She pulled it off and I was ecstatic,” Kelly said.
 
Only one goal was needed the way Kelly and her fellow defenders played. Lourdes (18-2-1) managed three shots on goal Monday and became Blake’s 15th victory by shutout. The Bears (20-1-0) have allowed just eight goals all season.
 
Perhaps the more impressive statistics are the young ages of Blake’s defensive corps. Kelly, Jess Horick and all-state selection Lydia Sutton are sophomores while Akiti Korlekuor is a ninth-grader.
 
“We lost our whole defensive line from last year, even our goalie,” Randolph said. “They’ve been working really hard to rebuild it.”
 
Said Kelly: “We haven’t changed a thing since day one. All we’ve done is maybe played quicker. We know what we want to do when we want to do it.”
 
Nothing gives young defenders some extra confidence like an early lead and Natalie Sill provided one on Monday. Sill headed in a pass from Nicole Kozlak in the fifth minute.
 
“That calmed us down so much,” Kelly said. “We could all take a deep breath and relax.”
 
Sill later provided the assist on Randolph’s goal in the 74th minute.
 
DAVID LA VAQUE