Second at State

It was a daunting task and South Washington County adapted soccer coach Denny Larson knew it.

Entering the state adapted soccer tournament, the Thunderbolts were the No. 3 seed and they knew they had a tough road to the championship.

First up was defending champion Minneapolis Roosevelt. If the team was able to win, next was undefeated, No. 2-seeded Robbinsdale. Finally, it would be undefeated, No. 1-seed and host team Stillwater.

During the regular season, the Thunderbolts had defeated Roosevelt by only one goal and two of their three losses came to Robbinsdale and Stillwater.

With that in mind, it made South Washington County's trip through the bracket even that much more enjoyable for Larson.

"I am amazed at how far we have come," he said. "We had to play the three best teams in the state. They surpassed my expectations, especially when you consider we lost five of our seven starters from last season. We filled five holes and went further than last year."

The Thunderbolts bettered their third-place finish from last season to place second at last weekend's state tournament. After defeating Minneapolis Roosevelt and Robbinsdale, South Washington County lost to Stillwater in the championship game.

"It was a very successful season," Larson said. "Some people will say that it's better to win your last game, but not this time. This team deserved better than third place. They deserved to be in second place and they earned it."

The Thunderbolts dispatched defending champion Minneapolis Roosevelt by the score of 8-6 in the opener on Friday and did so by jumping on the board quickly.

Using the opening kickoff, South Washington County scored just 10 seconds into the game as Adam DeFlorin's kick hit the back of the net. The Thunderbolts held a 3-0 lead just two minutes into the game.

"That was a scary game," Larson said. "We had to be careful. Paris can score from anywhere. But we got up early and held on. It was just a heartbeat away."

Joey Lovitt had four goals in the game, while Luke Smith and DeFlorin each tallied two scores.

Smith would be the star in the semifinal game against Robbinsdale, scoring all four of South Washington County's goals in the 4-2 victory.

"Luke had an awesome tournament," Larson said. "It was his game to take over. He can do that when he is ready to play and he was ready."

While the Thunderbolts were tested in the second half, the only reason, Robbinsdale stayed in it was the play of its goaltender. South Washington County had 30 shots on goal in the game, but Smith broke through for his fourth with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

When the finals came against Stillwater, South Washington County might have expended all of its upset juices

"We might have just run out of fuel in the third game," Larson said. "They were tired. We still held our own, but offensively, we couldn't get it going. The defense was good. We would kick the ball ahead, but we didn't control it. We didn't have the speed to beat their defenders to it.

"We just ran out of gas."

Stillwater jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Thunderbolts' Katie Unertl scored.

A 3-1 halftime score held up as each team went scoreless in the second half.

"I think we surprised some teams with our defense," Larson said.

Smith and Lovitt were named to the all-tournament team, leaving optimism for next season. The team will only lose three senior starters in DeFlorin, goaltender Erin Jones and Mark Riggins.

But Smith, Lovitt, captain Alyssa Peterson and Owen Adams return.

"We should be very strong next year," Larson said. "We just need to find our goaltender.

For now, they will just enjoy the medals around their necks.