Stillwater’s defense posted another clean sheet, and the Ponies’ top scorer did her thing Wednesday morning. That combination resulted in a 1-0 win over Eagan in a Class 3A girls soccer semifinal.
Rylee Lawrence scored for the Ponies, who will face defending champion Wayzata at 8 a.m. Friday back at U.S. Bank Stadium. Stillwater last won the title in 2021.
“If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll be OK for the final,” Ponies coach Mike Huber said.
Winning with defense has been a hallmark for Stillwater (18-1-1) this season. The Ponies have 14 shutouts, allowing just eight goals in 20 matches. Four of those came in back-to-back games against White Bear Lake and Woodbury to end the regular season.
Unable to consistently press, Eagan’s prime scoring chances were few and far between.
“We had to be locked in from the start, but the last 18 minutes we knew we needed to shut everybody down,” said defender Savannah Backberg, one of 17 Stillwater seniors.
Still, the Wildcats’ best scoring opportunity came with 12:57 left when a pass from Ana Oenning connected with Tess Triplett entering the box behind a couple defenders. However, Reese Elzen, the Stillwater goalkeeper and Wisconsin commit, raced out a few yards and made a sliding stop.
“With a big touch you’ve got to go out then. If she has the ball on her feet with little touches, you’ve got to hold your ground,” Elzen said. “When it’s big touch, that might be the only chance you get to come out and grab the ball.”
The game’s lone goal came in the 28th minute. Off an Eagan turnover, Stillwater’s Alayna Muths, a University of Illinois-Chicago commit, quickly sent a pass to Lawrence, a North Dakota commit who had a step behind a pair of Wildcats defenders. Her left-footed shot from 7 yards out went top corner on the far side for her team-best 17th goal of the season.
It was just the second goal allowed by Eagan in seven matches.
Stillwater had better scoring chances in the first half, but Abigail McGowan came up big each time, the latter a diving stop to thwart Lawrence. McGowan also stopped an Evelyn Huffer shot from about 15 yards out early in the second half to keep the Wildcats within one.
“It was one of those days where we didn’t put the ball in the net, but we’ll pick our heads up fast for tomorrow,” said Oenning, a St. Thomas commit.
Eagan (16-3-2), which tied East Ridge in the third-place game last year, gets Prior Lake in this year’s match Thursday.
Wayzata 2, Prior Lake 1
Gianna Ross scored with 10:11 left and Wayzata (16-0-2) netted the final two goals to beat Prior Lake 2-1. Ella O’Keefe also scored in the second half for the top-seeded Trojans. Fifth-seeded Prior Lake (14-6-1) got its goal from Teagan Jurek.
https://www.twincities.com/2025/10/29/girls-state-soccer-stillwater-girls-to-play-for-state-title/