The last time Holy Angels’ Aidan Smith had a game similar to what he did Wednesday in the Class 2A semifinals, no one saw it.

The senior midfielder put an emphatic stamp on the Stars’ 3-2 victory over Mahtomedi with a hat trick. And this time, it was far from anonymous.

Smith scored three goals in the Class 1A, Section 3 semifinals a year ago when Holy Angels rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat Simley 4-3. The game had been postponed numerous times due to snow and was played in the dome at the West St. Paul Sports Complex.

Covid restrictions were still in place at the time, so no fans were allowed.

“We don’t even have film of it,” said Holy Angels coach James See.

Smith opened the scoring Wednesday with a perfectly-placed free kick for a goal in the 29th minute, clearing the defensive wall and sailing over the desperately-reaching fingers of the Mahtomedi goalkeeper.

“I wasn’t really ready to take it, and the [teammate] Noah Hermanson told me ‘You’ve got this. You’ve taken this shot hundreds of times before.’” Smith said. “He gave me the confidence. “

He added a penalty kick goal in the 49th minute, leading Mahtomedi coach Dominic Issac to lament his team’s play on Holy Angels’ set pieces.

“He got two of them,” Isaac said. “One penalty kick and free kick from outside the box and he buried them. We knew anywhere inside 30 yards, he was dangerous.”

Mahtomedi put the outcome in doubt with a goal in the game’s 72nd minute, cutting the lead to one, and applied heavy pressure throughout the rest of the game, but couldn’t get the equalizer.

“I’d look up at the clock about every 30 seconds,” Smith admitted. “Every second felt like an hour going by.”

Holy Angels, the 2019 Class 1A champions, improved to 15-3-2. Mahtomedi fell to 18-3.