Back on familiar ground: Packers defeat Holy Family in the state quarterfinals
Published 10:43 pm Wednesday, October 24, 2018
- Austin's Lee Reh celebrates a first half goal against Holy Family in Prior Lake High School Wednesday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
SAVAGE — The Austin boys soccer team didn’t flinch when they faced a deficit agaisnt Holy Family in the Minnesota Class A Boys State Soccer Tournament quarterfinals at Prior Lake High School Wednesday.
After all, they’d been there before when they trailed Bemidji in last year’s state quarterfinals on this same turf. Now they’re going to somewhere else they’ve been before — the state semifinals — after beating the Fire 2-1.
Mooday Wah competes for the ball with Holy Family’s Luke Puklich in Prior Lake High School Wednesday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Holy Family (17-3 overall) took a 1-0 lead in the first half, but the Packers bounced back and took the lead for good when Andres Garcia knocked in a 25-yard shot on a pass from Kevin Oritz with 27 minutes left in the game.
Austin’s defense, led by senior Victor Velazquez, then closed out the victory by shutting down Holy Family’s offensive attack the rest of the way.
“Every time I would pass by the USBank Stadium in Minneapolis (after last year), I would say to myself that I’m coming back baby,” Velazquez said. “Now we’re coming back. Last year we were in this same position,” Austin senior Victor Velezqeuz said. “Bemidji scored right away on us. We kind of lost it for a little bit, but once we started reinforcing everybody positively, the results showed.”
Caleb Simerson manuevers past Holy Family’s Bishop Schugel (11) and Zyler Niece (22) in the Minnesota Class A State Soccer Quarterfinals in Prior Lake High School Wednesday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Ortiz said he knew the Packers had struck gold when he saw Garcia open.
“I saw Andres run and I just chipped it over. I knew he was going to finish and make me proud,” Ortiz said. “ US Bank is our house now and we’re going to make everybody happy this year.”
Austin grabbed a lot of momentum right before halftime when Lee Reh scored on his own rebound coming off a corner kick to tie the game at 1-1 with 1:40 left in the half.
The Packers celebrate their win over Holy Family in the quarterfinals of the Minnesota Class A Boys State Soccer Tournament at Prior Lake. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
That goal gave the Packers some confidence headed into the break and Austin head coach Jens Levisen felt his team had a great chance.
“I think we do a really good job as a team of working play and moving the ball up,” Levisen said. “We have guys that have talent with the ball and they can create just enough space to make that pass.”
Casey Berg had six saves in net for Austin (17-2 overall), including a leaping stop in the first half. The Packers had nine shots on goal.
The Packers will take on top-seeded Blake School in the state semfinals at 4 p.m. Tuesday at USBank Stadium.
