No. 3-ranked Rosemount defeated No. 5 Bloomington Jefferson 11-5 Tuesday night at Bloomington Jefferson High School, and leading the charge for the Irish wasn’t a player with the last name Yepsen.

Senior midfielder Trent Woodcock scored three goals, including the last one of the first half and the opening goal in the second half. Woodcock said the speed of the Jaguars' defense contributed to his success.

“They were slow to slide a lot of the times,” Woodcock said. “We like to move around a lot. We mix up the slides, so they don’t know where it’s coming or where were coming from. It just seems to open things up.”

The Yepsen twins, midfielders Connor and Carter, also found the back of the net, just not with the regularity of Woodcock. The twins had an identical stat lines -- two goals and one assist for each. One of the Yepsens has at least shared the points lead each all of the Irish's games before Tuesday.

Connor Yepsen said it was good to get scoring variety.

“The goalie (Connor Norberg) played well,” Yepsen said. “He found the good bounces and he sucked in pretty well, but it was key we moved the ball around and got a bunch of different scorers on the board.”

Woodcock ranked sixth on the Irish with 12 points heading into Tuesday's games. Rosemount coach Lance Kuehn said Woodcock has the ability to be great in the Irish's fast-paced offense.

“So many things are said about Connor and Carter, and Trent just gets ignored, but Trent’s a great player, too,” Kuehn said. “Physical, strong, and a very smart-headed player. When everyone is focused on number three and number five, number 22 is going to beat you.”

The Yepsens ranked among the top 10 preseason players to watch, and so far have lived up to that billing. But Woodcock said Rosemount focuses on team play and not individuals.

“It’s just a team game,” Woodcock said. “Things open up for different people. We just run our offense and things open up and we do our thing and put the ball in the net.”   

Bloomington Jefferson had success slowing Rosemount’s high-powered offense in the first half. The Irish, who average more than 14 goals, led 5-3 heading into the second half. Kuehn said he told the team at halftime to make the second half theirs.

“We told them to own this game,” Kuehn said. “We tell them to own the first three minutes of every quarter. When you do that, you win the game. We put up four, and it just deflated their bubble."

With the win the Irish move into a three-way tie for first place in South Subraban Conference with Prior Lake and Bloomington Jefferson. Rosemount’s lone loss is against the Lakers, who the Jaguars beat earlier in the season.

Kuehn said every team in the “Conference of Death” has to have a prime performance every game.

“You cannot have an A-minus game,” Kuehn said. “You have a A-minus game, you lose, because every other team has A games.”


Trent Woodcock scored three goals in Rosemount's win over Bloomington Jefferson. Photo by Loren Nelson

First Report

Senior Trent Woodcock scored three goals and the Yepsen twins, Carter and Conner, each had two to lead No. 3-ranked Rosemount to an 11-5 victory over No. 5 Bloomington Jefferson on Tuesday at Bloomington Jefferson High School.

Rosemount’s win creates a pileup at the top of the South Suburban Conference standings, as the Irish, Jaguars and Prior Lake each have one league loss. Prior Lake has defeated Rosemount, and Jefferson has defeated Prior Lake.

Woodcock scored to end the first half, putting Rosemount ahead 5-3. He scored again to open the second half, the first of four unanswered goals in the third quarter for the Irish. 

Ryan Graff and Joey Eggleston each scored twice for Bloomington Jefferson.

Spotlight Game Coverage