Girls' soccer: Playoff time

• Korkowski

Echo Press photo by Arlan Anderson Alexandria’s Erin Korkowski and her Cardinal girls’ soccer team will host the first round of playoff action in Section 8AA on Saturday at 7 p.m. when St. Cloud Tech comes to town.

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The Alexandria girls’ soccer team ended the regular season in style with a come-from-behind win over St. Cloud Tech on Tuesday night.

Beckah Ripley scored her first varsity goal and it was a big one as it gave her team the win in a 3-2 overtime victory for the Cardinals. Olivia Rice sent a corner kick to Ripley in the second overtime period from 18 yards out as Ripley gathered the ball and sent it into the back of the net for the game winner.

“Defenders play their heart out and often don’t get the recognition they deserve,” head coach Thomas Roos said. “Beckah has been a solid defender for three years and it is a highlight to see her get a game-winning goal.”

The two teams went scoreless in the first half before the offenses broke out in the second. The Tigers held two leads, scoring first 12 minutes in on the first of Erin Stout’s two goals in the game. Alexandria countered eight minutes later to tie the game when Gloria Head sent a cross to Taylor Meehan who tied the game at one.

With 15 minutes left in regulation, Stout again gave her team a lead with her second goal of the night. That lead looked like it would hold up, but the Cardinals were able to tie the game with two minutes remaining in the game.

This time it was Head who was on the receiving end of a pass from Ripley. After taking the pass on the right side, Head made a run past the defender and beat Tigers’ keeper Katelyn Wendt for the tying goal.

The win ended Alexandria’s regular season with an impressive 14-3 record, but it came with a price. The Cardinals lost defender Jill Rook in the first half with a knee injury that Roos said would likely cause her to miss the rest of the season.

Head also went down with an injury in overtime after chasing down a Tech attacker to keep the Tigers from getting a scoring opportunity. Head suffered an ankle injury on the play, leaving her playoff status in question.

“If our first playoff game were tomorrow, we literally could have a fourth of our team out with injuries,” Roos said. “If I had game balls to give out, they would go to Ripley, Rook and Head. They gave everything they had with two of the three having to be carried off the field.”

The Cardinals ended the regular season with a second-place finish in the CLC. Brainerd ended the year with a perfect record in the conference after taking down St. Cloud Apollo in its final game of the season.

Tags: sports, girls, soccer, st, cloud, tech, playoffs