Men’s and women’s teams triumph in the Region XIII playoffs

By Billy Brouillard

Staff Writer

For the third time in our school’s history, both Anoka-Ramsey soccer teams won the regional playoffs. On Sunday, the men’s team claimed the championship by defeating Riverland with a whopping 7-0 win with the women’s team following suit by defeating Century College 5-0. The men’s team defeated Century College in the semifinals 4-1 on Saturday.

Jordy Lake who was named men’s player of the year for Region XIII said he was “absolutely ecstatic” about the championship win.

Heading into the championship game on Sunday with no worries, forward Louie Elliot had a hat trick 15 minutes into the game and scored another goal later in the game making it a haul. Usama Saeed would score two goals and Chris Vance would score a goal late in the game.

In the semifinal game om Saturday, Pablo Ramos-Daza and Vance both scored a goal while Jake Cowie scored two goals. Goalkeeper Jordan Paton had eight saves on the day.

“It always feels good to win 7-0. It takes a little bit of the fun out of it,” head coach for both the women’s and men’s teams, Brady Eichhorn-Hicks, said after the men’s win.

Eichhorn-Hicks also won Region XIII Coach Of the Year for both teams.

Unlike the men’s complete shutout, the women’s game on Sunday started off slow as the teams seemed evenly matched. That is until midfielder Michaela Donat scored the first goal of the game. During the second half the Rams dominated with Donat scoring her second goal of the game. Kalley Malley kicked in the third goal and Rochelle Perzel scored two goals of her own. Goalkeeper Makayla Halford blocked six shots throughout the game.

“It is exciting to move on to Chicago and take on that road trip,” said forward Katy Ostlund, after the win. Ostlund had 14 assists on the season.

Despite the women’s win, Coach Eichhorn-Hicks said his team had a lazy performance. “A little disappointed we didn’t get it done right away. But- job done, we’re happy.” When asked about high scoring players Perzel and Donat Eichhorn-Hicks said, “Anytime that you can get 1 that can bring in 20 plus goals a year, two is almost unheard of. We have two of the top six or seven scorers in the nation on our squad. They go out and do the job.”

Both the women’s and men’s teams will head to Chicago this weekend to play in the District tournament games. The women’s team plays in the District Finals on Saturday. The men’s team play in the District Semi-Final on Friday, and with a win, move on to the District Finals on Saturday. If either team wins the District Finals, the next stop will be New York for the National Tournament, Nov. 7-13.