On Sunday June 5th the Minnesota Thunder Academy girls finished off another successful year of State Cup competition. The day began with the 94 ECNL girls facing off against the St Croix Scorpions. The game did not get off to a good start for the Thunder girls as St Croix scored on a great volley in the first five minutes. The early goal was a wake-up call for the 94s and they answered with several quality chances. Lauren Nash tied the game for the Thunder off a corner kick. Several chances were wasted by the 94s and they paid for it as St Croix scored a late first half goal to take a 2-1 lead into halftime. The girls came out in the second half and continued to put pressure on the St Croix goal. The tying goal finally came midway through the second half with Brianne Stelzer heading in a corner kick from Jill Richgels. Neither team was able to find the game winner in regulation and the game went to extra time. The first 15 minutes was fairly even with both teams not giving up any great scoring chances. With seven minutes left in the second overtime, Jenna Roering was able out outrace a St Croix defender and score the game winning goal for the 94 girls. The 3-2 win gave the team its 5th straight state cup title.

The 95 ECNL girls played their final versus a very stubborn Wayzata team which was a rematch from group play that Wayzata won 1-0. The 95’s started the game with its best effort of the season. From the first whistle, the 95’s dictated the pace, intensity and flow of the game. The 95’s could have been up 1-0 in the first several minutes but failed to capitalize on its scoring chance. Their possession and pressure was too much for Wayzata to handle causing Wayzata to change formations midway through the opening half. The 95’s went up 1-0 around the 30th minute when Megan Lenz played a long ball in behind the Wayzata defense. Kelly Pannek ran onto the ball crossing it to the far post area where Simone Kolander settled the ball, beat two defenders and hammered home. Wayzata is a very determined team who plays hard and that showed when they started the second half putting MTA under a lot of pressure. That pressure resulted in a goal in the 48th minute from a corner kick. Four minutes later, MTA inserted Courtney Neville and Tiana Khamvongsa back into the midfield and they were able to settle the game down and the flow of the game once again turned in the 95’s favor. With fifteen minutes to play, MTA scored arguably its prettiest goal of the season when Kelly Pannek and Courtney Neville combined to get Courtney into the penalty area behind the Wayzata defense. Courtney drew the keeper towards her and then slotted the ball across the face of the goal for Simone Kolander to put it into the open net. Lizzy Christ made the game winning save a short time later the seal the 95’s second consecutive State Cup title.

The 96 ECNL girls U15 final was against Dakota REV. These two teams have a long history of competitive games and this game was no different. The 96 girls were extremely motivated to win their first state cup title since the team won as U12’s. The team defended extremely well against a very athletic REV team and gave up very few chances during the game. The girls were very unlucky not to score as Lauren Miller forced the REV keeper to make a great save in the first half and Maddie Gaffney hit the cross bar with a great header. Even though the Thunder continued to put pressure on the REV goal, the game looked destined for extra time. That was until Lauren Miller was sent in alone on the REV goal in the final minute and she scored to give the 96 girls a much deserved 1-0 win.

The day’s final game saw the 97 Blue girls face the Prior Lake Lakers. Prior Lake opened the game with some very good early pressure. A great save by 97 keeper Sisley Ng kept the game at 0-0. The Blues were finally able to break through with a great individual effort by Brittany Monteon as she outraced the Prior Lake keeper and slotted home the ball into an open net for a 1-0 lead. The girls were able to double their lead on a Sophie Babo header off of a great corner kick from Peyton Goulding. Prior Lake was able to pull one back just before halftime to close the gap to 2-1. An early red card in the second half for Prior Lake really took the sting out of the game and the girls were able to see the game out for a comfortable 2-1 win and a second straight State Cup title