Girls' soccer goes out with flair

Following a winless regular season, the Glencoe-Silver Lake girls’ soccer team made some postseason noise before bowing out of the Section 2A Tournament last week.
After defeating Worthington in penalty kicks in the playoff opener on Saturday, Oct. 6, the Panthers exploded in their second-round sectional game at Jordan on Tuesday, Oct. 9.
A team that managed just two non-shootout goals over 14 games that preceded it, 18th-seeded GSL pounded four regulation scores past the Jaguars to win 4-3 over the 10th-seeded hosts.
Midfielder Paola Pena scored twice for the Panthers to become the team’s leading scorer on the season. Midfielder Isabel Villareal and forward Lydia Simons also put the ball into the net to help the visitors to the upset victory.
The Panthers’ three captains – midfielder Emily Thalmann, defender Megan Fehrenbach and goalkeeper Destiney Exsted – each played a role in the win. Thalmann assisted on three of the team’s four goals, with Fehrenbach assisting the other, while Exsted stopped 22 of Jordan’s 25 shots in the game.
GSL’s victorious run came to a close in the third round of sectional play, however. Despite a strong defensive showing on a frigid evening at Chanhassen High School, the Panthers’ season came to a close with a 2-0 loss to seventh-seeded Holy Family Catholic on Thursday, Oct. 11.
The seventh-seeded Fire, which had defeated GSL 9-0 on Sept. 18, scored less than a minute into the game to take a decisive 1-0 lead.
However, another splendid outing by Exsted backed up the Panther defense and prevented the game from becoming another blowout.
In her final game in the GSL goal, Exsted made 31 saves, allowing just one more goal at the end of the first half before blanking the Fire after halftime.
On the season, Exsted played all 360 minutes over 16 games. She made an otherworldly 360 saves on 416 shots faced for a save percentage of 87 percent.
In addition to Pena’s team-leading two goals, midfielders Caroline Schmidt and Villareal each scored once this season, as did forwards Miranda Litzau and Simons.
Thalmann’s three assists led the team, with fellow midfielder Mariana Castillo notching two assists and Villareal one assist.
Holy Family went on to win its sectional quarterfinal matchup, upsetting second-seeded Waconia in a penalty shootout to advance to the 2A semifinals against third-seeded Fairmont.