2022 State Class AAA Soccer, Girls Tournament
Round 1 game
Game Details
5701 Normandale Road
Edina, MN 55424
United States
Recap
Shootout (Mounds View wins penalty kicks 2-1)
Round 1 game
Game Details
3551 McKnight Road
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
United States
Round 2 game
Game Details
401 Chicago Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55415
United States
Recap
In a battle of upstarts, Edina will move on to the Class AAA girls soccer state championship game following a 1-0 victory over Mounds View on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. Freshman midfielder Lous Ruffien scored with just more than nine minutes remaining in regulation time to lift the No. 5-seeded Hornets (16-4-1) into the big-school championship game where it will play the winner between No. 2 Rosemount and No. 3 Stillwater.
Ruffien broke the scoreless deadlock on a play in the goalie box. She gained possession by pulling the ball from a defender and then firing a quick-strike shot from close range.
To earn a spot in the semifinal, Edina defeated No. 4 Centennial in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, unseeded Mounds View (14-5-1) staged the upset of the quarterfinals by defeating top-seeded and previously undefeated Wayzata.
It is Edina’s first appearance in a soccer championship game since 2007 when it lost to Lakeville South. The Hornets also had a runner-up finish in 2000. In 1986, Edina won the single-class state championship, and in 1980, Edina West was the runner-up to Bloomington Jefferson in the first-ever girls soccer championship game.
Round 1 game
Game Details
2425 Long Lake Road
New Brighton, MN 55112
United States
Round 1 game
Game Details
3551 McKnight Road
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
United States
Round 2 game
Game Details
401 Chicago Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55415
United States
Recap
In the 2021 state tournament, Rosemount, like Edina, was not able to advance out of the semifinals. The Irish were seeded No. 3 and lost to No. 2 Centennial for the right to play for a state title. On the back of t-shirts worn by Rosemount participants, it says, “Unfinished Business,” a motivator to progress farther in 2022.
That is playing out for the Irish.
Rosemount, the No. 2 seed in the big-school field, recorded a 1-0 victory over No. 3 Stillwater during the semifinals to not only dethrone the reigning Class AAA champion, but also earn a spot opposite Edina in Friday’s championship game.
Senior forward Shay Payne scored the game’s only goal with 24:29 remaining in regulation time on a play engineered by teammate Taylor Heimerl, a senior midfielder. Heimerl, with possession on the far side, sent a long volley toward the Stillwater goal. The ball bounced off a Stillwater defender to Payne, who was about 20 yards out. Payne recovered the ricochet and fired a shot between the two defenders and into the far left side of the goal.
It is Rosemount’s first appearance in a championship game since finishing as a runner-up to Centennial in 2016.
