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Early scoring leads Benilde-St. Margaret's past Cloquet-Carlton in girls' Class 2A semifinals

By Jim Paulsen, Star Tribune, 11/04/21, 2:15PM CDT

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The top-seeded Red Knights used stout defense to stifle any chance for Cloquet-Carlton and advance to the 2A championship.


Kiya Gilliand of Benilde-St. Margaret's scored a goal in the first half of the Class 2A girls' soccer state tournament semifinals. (Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune)

Success has been a frequent sidekick for Benilde-St. Margaret’s girls’ soccer. The Red Knights are in the midst of their 13th appearance in the state tournament, with four titles to their credit.

But, by their lofty standards, it had been awhile since they’ve approached the pinnacle. Their last championship came in 2016, their most recent state tournament trip in 2018.

After Benilde-St. Margaret’s dispatched Cloquet-Carlton 3-0 in the Class 2A semifinals to advance to Saturday’s championship game, the feeling among the Red Knights is that they’re back where they should be.

The Red Knights lost in the semifinals in 2018, in the waning seconds of the section finals in 2019 and dealt with COVID in 2020.

“We start nine seniors. They definitely have a mission,” coach Scott Helling-Christy said. “They won the section final last year and obviously didn’t get to play in the state tournament, so they are definitely focused. These girls feel like they had a chance at a state title last year.”

The talented and top-seeded Red Knights (18-0-1) controlled play from the outset, playing keep-away from Cloquet with crisp passing. They took a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute when a corner kick dropped untouched on the Cloquet goal line and senior Elizabeth Dietzen pounced on it, knocking it into the net on her third attempt.

They added to the lead on the first of Kiya Gilliand’s two goals in the 33rd minute. Gilliland was the beneficiary of a brilliant run up the right side by Ava Wagener, who sent a low cross in front of the net for Gilliand to corral and tuck into the net. 

They iced the victory when Gilliand tallied in the 69th minute, again after a nice feed from a teammate.

“We have some very skilled players, in the back and up on top,” said Helling-Christy.

From there on in, it was just a matter of putting the final touches on their 16th shutout of the season, one shy of the school record.

“This is our year,” said Dietzen. “We have so many starting seniors who are returners. We really want to get it done this year.”

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