Lakeville North Girls Advance to State Soccer Tournament

The Panthers are headed to the state tournament after their 5-0 win over Northfield in the Section 1AA finals Tuesday night.

The Panthers scored less than four minutes into the game, made it 2-0 with a goal midway through the first half, then struck again in the 38th minute to take a 3-0 and pretty much finish off the Raiders by halftime.

“We played a very good team tonight in Lakeville North,” Northfield coach Troy Cohrs said. “I just think we didn't handle the pressure well and we put ourselves in a couple of holes early.”

Panthers co-head coach Bulut Ozturk said Lakeville North's game plan was dictate play to the Raiders, especially in the early going.

“We wanted to impose our game on them, which is more of a possession-oriented game with quick passing,” Ozturk said.

The Panthers advance to the state tournament, where Ozturk expects they will be the top seed in the Class AA field.

“This makes us 17-0-2, so we should be No. 1,” he said.

The top four seeds will be determined by a vote of the coaches of the eight qualifying teams, and those four will each meet one of the other state qualifiers in first-round action.

While a 5-0 blowout was hardly how Cohrs hoped his team's season would end, it was still a successful season for the Raiders.

“I'm not going to let tonight take away from the rest of our season,” Cohrs said. “We were still Missota champs and we made it to the section finals.”