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| Rachael Welzin heads a shot toward the Panther goal (photo by Jim Lindquist) |
One day short of the first anniversary of Farmington's 2-0 loss to Lakeville North in the 2012 Section 1AA championship game, the Tigers fell to the Panthers by the identical score.
North scored on a penalty kick midway through the first half to take an early lead and then added an insurance goal with six minutes left in regulation to claim a state tournament berth.
Farmington coach Tracie Randall said she didn't see the loss coming.
"We had been playing very well in the tournament and had spent a lot of time getting mentally and physically prepared for this game," she said. "To be honest, I don't think we came ready to play tonight.
"I could see it in our warm-ups and the way we started the game. The mental aspect of this game is so important and tonight for some reason we just didn't have it."
North had a couple of prime scoring chances early but one shot hit the cross bar and another was corralled on a sprawling save by Tiger keeper Ashley Becker.
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| Ashley Becker 13 saves (photo by J. Lindquist) |
"We don't score a lot of goals and that was devastating for us," Randall said. "You could see it on our play the rest of the half."
The best Tiger scoring opportunity of the half occurred with 6:35 to play when Rachael Welzin's header off Hannah Miller's corner kick was saved by Panther keeper Alexi Joyce.
Becker (13 saves) kept the Tigers within a goal with some acrobatic stops in the second half before the Panthers scored late on a rebound shot by Alyssa Ettl to put the game away.
"Becker was brilliant tonight," Randall said," But we could never do much up top."
The Tigers, who managed just three shots on goal in the contest, finished the 2013 season with a 10-5-4 record.
Free downloadable, high resolution image files from this game compliments of photographers Jim and Ruth Lindquist are available at http://sidekick.smugmug.com
