St. Cloud Crush 'dig deep' in Section 8AA Quarterfinals vs. Rocori

ST. CLOUD — With the season on the line, the St. Cloud Crush and Rocori needed a bit of extra time to determine a winner in the Section 8AA quarterfinals.

After 100 minutes of scoreless soccer, the two teams went into a shootout to determine a winner where the Crush won 3-1.

Sophomore Reeghan Stevens and junior Ally Terwey log the shut outs for St. Cloud and Rocori, respectively. Both goalies played tremendous games to force two capable offenses to a blank sheet.  

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“We had to dig deep here for our seniors,” Crush coach Katie Boardman said. “We really wanted to come out with a win at home. It means a lot [to win]; we’ve been looking for consistency all year and we’ve been feeling pretty confidence in ourselves the last couple of weeks.”

That is the thing about playoff soccer, it truly is a different game than what teams are accustomed to all season long. Just last week had a game ended in a tie after regulation, that was it. No overtime; no shootouts.

So as playoffs loom, teams must be ready to play an extra 20 minutes if needed. To prepare, Boardman installed an “urgency” drill to practice. In the drill, one team starts down a goal and has upwards of 10 minutes to even the score, with punishments for the losing team of course.

“It teaches the girls that when we got to go, we got to go,” Boardman said. “We work on digging deep when we’re tired and trying to persevere through. You could easily just give up and start making little mistakes [when] your legs get tired, but I though they really held their own and played our game.”

When it comes to shootouts, Boardman has been preparing her team effectively in that regard as well.

They have practiced penalty kicks with noise; in silence; with distractions; anything to make it difficult to focus and reiterate that it is all mental when lining up for a kick.

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“I only want shooters who are going to be confident taking them,” Boardman said. “We had some girls really step up; a couple defenders step up and take some shots. I’m just really proud of them.”

This is the second year in a row that the Crush defeated Rocori in the sectionals, beating the Spartans 2-1 in last year’s semifinal round.

Now advancing to the next round, St. Cloud will take on the section’s top seed, Sartell, on Oct. 15.

“We’re not guaranteed any more time than the next game,” Boardman said. “We’re just enjoying our time together, working on our game and not trying to worry too much about what we can’t control. I’m really excited for them, and we want our seniors to keep playing, so that’s what we’re trying to do.”

You can reach St. Cloud Times sports reporter David Jacobs and send story ideas and tips to djacobs@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @davidrjacobs10, and on Instagram @ByDavidJacobs.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud Crush 'dig deep' in Section 8AA Quarterfinals vs. Rocori