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Kellie Higgins’ goal in overtime gave the Wildcat girls’ soccer team a 1-0 win over the Duluth Marshall Hilltoppers in the Section 7A semifinals Tuesday, October 15 at Chisago Lakes sending the Wildcats to tonight’s section championship game at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes High School.  The Wildcats will face the winner of the other Section 7A semifinal game between Cloquet and St. Francis, played Tuesday night in Cloquet.  Results had not been posted for that game at press time.

Here’s the Wildcats’ path through the section tournament to the section finals:
 
Chisago Lakes 5, Spectrum 0
Allison Glenna had two goals and an assist to lead the Wildcats to a 5-0 win over the 16th-seeded Spectrum Sting in the section quarterfinal game at Chisago Lakes Thursday, October 10.

The Wildcats came out hot.  51 seconds into the match, Allison Glenna scored off an Avery Constant corner kick.  A few minutes later, Glenna sent a ball through to Riann Daas for goal number two.   The Wildcats controlled possession for virtually the entire game, giving Spectrum little opportunity to mount any sort of attack.  At the 20-minute mark, Ruby Dircks found Addyson Barrett, who scored on a long shot.  In the 32nd minute, Estefani Hanson hit Madison Kubalek on the run for a goal, and the Wildcats led 4-0 at the half.

The Wildcats eased off the pedal in the second half but did score an impressive goal.  Kellie Higgins sent the ball in on a corner kick.  It bounced around and found the head of Glenna,  who sent it into the back of the net for her second goal to make the final 5-0.
 
Chisago Lakes 2, Esko 0
The Wildcats’ section quarterfinal match against eighth-seeded Esko this past Monday at Chisago Lakes started on a somber note with the unexpected death of Esko student Jackson Pfister during Esko’s football game last Friday night.  

The Eskomos played an inspired game.  In the 32nd minute, the Wildcats got on the board when Addyson Barrett had a great run down the far side to beat the Esko defense and sent nice cross to Allison Glenna, who buried the ball in the back of the net.  The Wildcats led 1-0 at halftime.  The game stayed that way until two minutes remained.  Avery Constant sent a ball up to Riann Daas, who took on the goalkeeper one-on-one and sent the ball into the net to seal the 2-0 win for the Wildcats.
 
Chisago Lakes 1, Duluth Marshall 0 (O.T.)
In the section semifinal game against the fourth-seeded Duluth Marshall Hilltoppers, the game went back and forth early.  Marshall came on strong for the first 20 minutes, but the Wildcat defense held, and the game was scoreless at halftime.  The Wildcats controlled the majority of the possession in the second half and had some good looks at the goal but couldn’t put anything away and the game remained scoreless at the end of regulation.

In sudden-victory overtime, Wildcat Estefani Hanson was fouled just outside the 18-yard box, setting up a free kick at that spot.  Kellie Higgins stepped up to take the free kick.  She bent the ball around a wall of four Hilltoppers and into the upper corner of the net for a golden goal and a 1-0 win for the Wildcats, sending them to tonight’s Section 7A championship game.

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