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Sports

Simley Girls Advance in Section 4A Soccer Playoffs

Richgels and Rud both scored two goals to lead the Spartans to a 5-0 win over Mounds Park Academy in Section 4A girls soccer Saturday.

Sarah Luby got the Spartans off to a fast start with a goal less than three minutes into the game as the girls soccer team dominated visiting Mounds Park Academy 5-0 Saturday evening.

The win puts the Spartans (11-5-1) into the Section 4A girls soccer semifinals. Second-ranked Simley will host New Life Academy (11-4-1) on Tuesday. South St. Paul (8-9) will play St. Croix Lutheran (7-9-1) in the other section semifinals, with the two Tuesday winners meeting in the section finals.

Sophomore Rachel Rud followed Luby's goal with two of her own to give Simley a 3-0 lead with 13:46 to play in the first half. Senior Jill Richgels then scored to make it a 4-0 Spartans lead at the half.

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Richgels scored again for the Spartans in the only goal of the second half. She now has 19 goals on the season.

“It’s a good way to start off our section play”, said head coach Cassie Husemann. “It was nice to be at home, nice doubleheader with lots of fans in the stands.

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“We had four goals in the first half, and we’ve only done that to two other teams throughout the year,” Husemann added. “So it was nice to come off with a good start.”

With three goals against St. Croix Lutheran in the regular season finale and two more Saturday, Rud’s emergence as a scoring threat has given the Spartans another weapon to throw at teams.

“I think just really passing and playing with our teammates,” Rud said when asked about her recent string of goals. “I got a couple of corners and throw ins. Just really communicating with your team and working well together helps.”

It was the sixth straight win of the season for the Spartans, who have outscored their opponents 24-3 during the streak.

“Right now we’ve just been practicing really hard, we had some conditioning days and we had some team meeting just to get our passion up,” said senior defender Maddie Barry. “We realized a whole new season starts with today at sections.

“So we just understood, and the seniors helped the freshmen and sophomores understand that this is what the season really comes down to,” Barry added. “So we just basically decided that we have to work harder and get our heads and hearts into it because we know we want to go to state.”

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