NEW PRAGUE — Mankato East girls soccer coach Lizzy Vetter knew the road to a potential state tournament berth would be tough.
The Cougars only have a few players remaining from the group that took third in 2022, so there were going to be growing pains. One of those moments came in a loss to Mankato West last month.
“It was a huge learning moment in terms of getting them to understand the amount of grit it takes to finish out a game,” Vetter said of the loss. “I think up to that point we had floated by. Did what we had to do, not what we needed to do.”
The Cougars got some revenge Tuesday, beating the Scarlets 3-0 in the Section 2AA final to clinch their third consecutive trip to state. East has now won 10 straight games since losing to the Scarlets in annual The Pack the Stands game.
“Us losing to them that first game just really got us (working),” East forward Taylor Schilling said. “Once we started working … it really brought us up.”
Schilling got the Cougars on the scoreboard 13 minutes into the game with a strike from the box and they never looked back, controlling play for the majority of the game.
Jillian Borgmeier made it 2-0 in the 44th minute, and Schilling secured the win with her second of the game in the 72nd. The Scarlets generated some offense at times in the second half, but playing from ahead proved to be pivotal for East.
“There were multiple different ways that I imagined this game could go,” Vetter said. “But I knew that whoever scored first was going to have the momentum. I really made that our emphasis.”
It was a successful season for the Scarlets, finishing 12-5-1 in Carrlin Meier’s first season as coach. Meier hopes West can learn from the experience.
“I’m very proud of the way they’ve come around in terms of being able to play together and everyone learning their roles,” Meier said. “It’s been a lot of good moments.”
Momentum can be hard to quantify, but Vetter is confident this was East’s best game of the season. This may be the least experienced group Vetter has brought to state, but she still feels the players who haven’t played on the stage will benefit from being around it.
“I’m really proud from that first day in August to where we are now,” Vetter said. “A lot of times who has the advantage at state is who has the experience. I’m hoping that three years into this thing, we can let that experience fuel us.”
The Cougars (15-2-2) will play in the Class AA tournament next week.