A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
The Lumberjacks soccer team with the Section 7A championship trophy after defeating Chisago Lakes in North Branch last Thursday. Olivia Jameson put away the winning sudden-death goal on her first shift of the game.
Cloquet coach Dustin Randall wasn't the only one who found out later that Olivia Jameson scored the game-winning golden goal for the Lumberjacks. The very excited "O.J." called her mom with her dad, Joe's, phone after the game to deliver the good news.
The Lumberjacks girls soccer team celebrates after Madi Vermeersch's game-tying goal Thursday as Chisago Lakes players walk away in frustration.
A jubilant Cloquet soccer team celebrates after winning the Section 7A championship last week.
NORTHBRANCH-Olivia Jameson was so stealthy when she scored the Lumberjacks' game-winning goal that even her coach didn't realize who deftly kicked the ball over the Chisago Lakes goalie, who was tangled up on the ground with Cloquet's Alexa Snesrud.
"It was the first shift of the game for Olivia," coach Dustin Randall said about Jameson's "golden goal" - a sudden-death goal - in the second overtime of Thursday's section 7A championship girls soccer match vs. the Wildcats. "She was in to give a break for our defenders who were gassed," Randall said, adding that he didn't know it was Jameson who scored until the teams were shaking hands after the celebration.
Randall wasn't the only to find out after the fact. Jameson's mother, Lori, and her big sister Katie were on a "girls' road trip" over the school break and listening to the game on the radio on and off.
"We missed hearing her goal," said Lori. "Then I got a text from a friend that said, 'Way to go OJ.' I called my husband right away; he said he was going down to the field and they would call me back. Olivia called me a few minutes later and told me the play-by-play."
Jameson's goal propelled the Lumberjacks back to the state tournament for the eighth time in school history and for the first time since 2012.
It was a wild game Thursday, with the lead changing back and forth in the second half before going into double overtime.
The top-seeded Chisago Lakes gave Cloquet a scare when Estefania Hansen scored to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead with only 1:26 remaining in the match. Thanks to another fall involving Snesrud - a freshman who's been outstanding this year - Lumberjack Madi Vermeersch scored the game-tying goal on a penalty kick with only 52 seconds to play.
"Alexa Snesrud got tripped accidentally in the box, but when that happens the rules state it's a penalty kick," Randall said. "And Madi's been clutch all season long - she was again tying the game," Randall said.
The Wildcats entered the 7A finals as the top seed, unbeaten and ranked seventh in the state. The No. 1 seed, who had defeated Cloquet earlier in the season, scored the only goal of the first half when Alyssa Hemple beat Gracie Meagher at the 31:44 mark of the first half.
"We had so many chances early," Randall said. "Kiana (Bender) sent one wide left by inches then wide right a short time later. With any luck, we would have gotten that first goal of the game."
As the second half started with Chisago Lakes in front 1-0, Katie Turner tied the game for Cloquet-Carlton as she sent one past Wildcat goalie Dylan Grave to even the score at 1-1. With the match progressing in the second half, each team had several chances to score but both goalies came up big time after time. Meagher finished 11 saves, while her counterpart Grave ended with 12 in the loss.
"This team never quits," Randall said. "We have special players who work hard and most of the time outwork the other team. That is why we have been so successful over the last several seasons."
Cloquet-Carlton was seeded No. 1 the past two seasons but failed to make it to the state tournament either time, falling to Duluth Marshall last season in the section semifinals and two years ago to North Branch in the section finals in a shootout which featured 20 shooters.
Jameson's game-winning goal at 6:48 of double overtime came as a result of a great Lumberjack rush and good hard work.
"Bender did a great job pushing the ball down the sideline, keeping it alive, then sent it to midfield where Alexa made a move on the ball and Olivia finished the play. It was awesome," Randall said enthusiastically. "I am so happy for the kids - they deserve this!"
The Lumberjacks advanced to the state quarterfinals Thursday night at Chisago Lakes High School in Lindstrom where they were set to face the No. 2 seeded Academy of Holy Angels after this issue of the Pine Knot News went to press.
The Lions enter the state quarterfinals with a record of 16-2-1, while Cloquet-Carlton will start the match with a record of 18-2.
Check out the Pine Knot News Facebook page for the latest on the Lumberjacks girls soccer team on their journey to state, or wait for full coverage in next week's paper.
