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Bloomington Jefferson survives Stillwater surge

By Jake Lunemann, MN Lax Hub staff, 06/10/11, 12:32PM CDT

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Jaguars bolt to big lead, hold off charging Ponies to win third-place game


Stillwater's Dana Almquist, left, fires a shot as Bloomington Jefferson's Cori Johnson (9) applies defensive pressure. In goal for the Jaguars is Oralee Hespenheide. Photo by Helen Nelson

 It was a tough act to follow coming after a thrilling championship, but the third place game at the Minnesota State High School League girls state tournamentproved to be quite the nail biter.

After going into halftime with a comfortable five-goal lead, Bloomington Jefferson got all it could handle from Stillwater in the second half as it hung on for a 12-11 victory on Friday, June 10, at Chanhassen High School.

Earlier in the afternoon, Blake capped an unbeaten season by defeating Eden Prairie 11-9 for the Bears second straight state championship.

Six players scored for Bloomington Jefferson in the first half, which ended with the Jags leading 8-3.

It would have been a much worse deficit if not for an outstanding effort by Stillwater goalie Marie Bonine. She finished with 12 saves, including nine in the first half. 
 
Stillwater came back with a vengeance in the second half with their top three players each scoring at least a hat trick. The Ponies scored with one second remaining in the first half as part of a 7-2 run.

Stillwater's Katie Casto, left, runs past Bloomington Jefferson's Laura Berglund. Photo by Helen Nelson

With just 3:32 left in the second half, Stillwater sophomore Dana Almquist scored her third goal of the game to come to pull the Ponies within one of Jefferson. Jaguars coach Gary Gregus called a timeout to talk things over with his squad.
 
“I told them to settle down and play your game,” Gregus said. “We have been able to rely on our senior leadership all year long. You tell them what they need to do and they will get it done.”
 
While Gregus looking for senior leadership, it was a junior who would answer the call. With 2:55 remaining, Elizabeth Wittenborg scored an unassisted goal to extend the Jaguars' lead back to two.

“It was great to push back ahead like that,” said Wittenborg. “I don’t even really remember what led up to the goal except it being very exciting afterwards.”
 
Jefferson senior Laura Berglund would score another goal 31 seconds later in what seemed to just be an insurance goal. It would turn out to be much more. 
 
Ponies sophomore Dana Almquist would score once with 34 seconds remaining and then again as time expired to wrap up a thrilling second half.
 
All eleven Stillwater goals came from three players and all of the goals were unassisted. Almquist finished with five goals while Sammi Reiter and Hannah Dickman each had three.
 
Wittenborg and Berglund would end the day with three goals and one assist each for Bloomington Jefferson with teammate Brenna Murray adding three goals.

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