Boys soccer state quarterfinal: Penalty kick in OT lifts Eagan boys to state soccer semis

A pair of unlikely goals earned the Eagan boys soccer team a spot in the state semifinals.

Eric Noll scored on a penalty shot midway through the first overtime and fourth-seeded Eagan beat Woodbury 2-1 in a Class 3A boys soccer quarterfinal Tuesday at Farmington High School.

“Right down the middle. … Put it down the middle and hope he dives a different way. It’s kind of like my signature,” said Noll, who added of his five penalty kicks this season, three were down the middle.

John Tesdall scored from near midfield for Eagan’s other goal.

In the tournament for the first time since 2015, the Wildcats will play in the semifinals at 8 a.m. Oct. 30 at U.S. Bank Stadium against the winner of Wednesday’s quarterfinal between No. 1 seed Minneapolis Washburn (14-0-3) and unseeded Bemidji (14-3-2).

Eagan (18-1-1) has won 10 straight games. “We’re not happy just making it to The Bank,” Noll said.

Setting up the winning kick, Jake Sondag got a step on a Woodbury defender before he was fouled in the box.

A call not made in the Eagan box may have prevented the fifth-seeded Royals from winning a few minutes earlier.

Matthew Christopherson got a step behind an Eagan defender early in overtime, but a sliding tackle cleared the ball out of harms way as the defender and Christopherson fell to the turf.

“I thought that was dicey and that could have been a call. So I thought he’s maybe going to let ’em play and then he goes and calls that which I thought was pretty soft,” said Royals coach John Engen. “But at the end of the day it just wasn’t good enough. Soccer’s going to be a cruel game. We, unfortunately, weren’t on the right end of it tonight.”

Woodbury (12-2-4) had not tasted defeat since its season opener.

The Royals controlled play for most of the second half, and put the ball in the net with 6:30 to go; however, Woodbury was whistled offside, a call nobody argued with.

Tesdall’s first goal of the season came in a very unlikely way and gave Eagan, the South Suburban Conference champion, a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.

The defender scored on a wind-aided 59-yard free kick that descended just under the crossbar and above the leaping goalkeeper.

But the Suburban East Conference champion Royals answered less than three minutes later with Adam Bane scoring off a scramble in front. It, too, was his first of the year.

Woodbury goalkeeper Aiden Feigal laid out to thwart an Eagan free kick early in the second half; Eagan goalkeeper Zachary Roxas did the same to rob Woodbury midway through the half and keep the game at 1-all.