Prep report: Esko, Proctor, Cloquet-Carlton grab girls soccer wins

Sep. 30—ESKO — A goal and three assists by Abrianna Madill helped Esko record its 11th straight girls soccer victory Thursday, Sept. 29, a 4-1 triumph over Hermantown.

The home team jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the match via goals by Ava Korby and Kaitlyn McConnell with Madill credited with both assists. Madill added the team's third goal in the second half on a free kick before McConnell notched her second goal of the night.

Nataleh Rapp scored the lone goal for the Hawks 14 minutes into the final half to end Esko's six-game shutout streak.

Addison Hieb's 33rd-minute goal for the Rails held up as a game-winner with the help of five saves from Proctor goalkeeper Brooklyn Burch.

Cayley Larson made 10 saves for the Hunters.

The Lumberjacks pulled away with two late goals to win the Lake Superior Conference game on their Senior Night.

Kylie Issendorf and Alexa Snesrud both scored goals in either half for Cloquet-Carlton, while Nina Thorson opened the scoring for the visiting Hilltoppers in the first half.

Katie Olson stopped three shots for the Lumberjacks.

Matt Eklund and Parker Chastey scored two goals apiece for the Hunters, while goalkeeper Liam Doyle earned the first clean sheet of his varsity career.

Rock Ridge was without star senior Cameron Stocke, but still had enough depth to win the Hibbing Rotary Cross Country Invitational on Thursday.

The Wolverines finished with 78 points and won despite not having a finisher higher than 10th-place Connor Matschiner. Bemidji (86) and Moose Lake/Willow River/Barnum (117) took the podium places.

The individual winner was Cromwell-Wright senior Noah Foster, who crossed the line in 16 minutes, 5 seconds. Runner-up Miles Fischer of Cloquet was second, about 15 seconds back. The event featured more than 130 varsity runners from more than 20 schools.

In the girls' race, Mia Hoffman of Bemidji paced the field in 18:58.1. Rock Ridge freshman Maija Lamppa was second, about 16 seconds behind, followed by Hibbing junior Mileena Sullivan.

Sullivan's efforts helped the home team win the event with 68 points, Rock Ridge was second with 107, followed by North Shore (led by fifth-place runner Olya Wright) with 113.

Solon Springs/Northwood grabbed four of the top six places in the Copperud Invitational at Washburn.

Dylan Taggart led the way, running his 5K in 17:25.6, 24 seconds ahead of teammate Isaac Dickenson.

SS/N had 21 points, with runner-up Drummond scoring 46.

Ayla Oltmans racked up 16 kills and three aces as the Greyhounds took the inter-class matchup in Coleraine. She also contributed a match-best 17 digs.

Ola Okoro set the 'Hounds with 39 assists and had 14 digs and three aces. Riley Panger posted a double-double of 11 kills and 12 digs for East.

For the Raiders, Ava Johnson was one dig short of a double-double with 14 kills and nine digs, while Jocelyn Mikolich led the defense with 16 digs.

The Thunderhawks cruised to a road victory behind 10 kills apiece from setter Braya LaPlant and Kate Jamtgaard. Lindsey Racine had a team-best 11 digs.

Kailee Banta had 14 digs for the Hilltoppers.

The Spartans won a roller-coaster match that included a 25-6 set and two sets decided by the minimum two points, with Superior taking a 16-14 fifth.

Savanna Herring led Superior with nine kills to go with 17 digs, while Mahlea Waters led the back row with 19 digs. Carlie Lohman posted 30 assists for Superior.

For Proctor, Ella Walker had 16 kills and Hope Carlson 12, many coming from Sami Shelton's 33 assists. Maddy Walsh had a match-best 24 digs.

Ava Carlson paced the Lumberjacks to victory with 10 kills, while Ashley Austin had an 11-dig game.

Kenzie Kiminski had a huge night for the Polar Bears with 20 kills and 22 digs. Alice Irvine aded 19 digs and nine kills for Floodwood.

Kyra Granholm had 14 kills and Sascha Korpela 13 for the Cardinals.

The Eagles outlasted their hosts 15-11 in the fifth set. Bailey Monson accumulated 16 kills and 25 digs in the marathon, while Kyra Latvala dished out 41 assists. Paetyn Simenson added 19 digs.

Double-doubles from Kayla Paulsen (12 kills, 11 digs) and Brynn Hessel (10 kills, 14 digs) weren't enough to overcome a powerful Barron squad that visited Maple on Thursday. Brinley Tonn had 28 assists.

Alexis Hoffman's 12 kills and nine digs helped the Rebels prevail in a super-tight Polar League match that went down to a 16-14 fifth set.

Jorja Jusczak hit the 30-dig mark for the match, while Laura Stephenson had 58 set assists in the contest, which featured 209 points. Sarah Christy added 12 kills and nine digs.

Autumn Cooper and Brynn Johnson of Superior earned spots in the WIAA Division 1 golf sectionals next week after qualifying as individuals from Thursday's regional meet in Eau Claire.

Cooper, a junior, shot 94, and Johnson, a sophomore, had a 96.

The SHS team finished just out of the qualifying places in fifth with a 394, one shot behind fourth-place River Falls. Freshman Rainah Morland also had a near-miss, rallying for a 45 on the back nine to finish her round with a 99, but that was one shot short of a playoff for the last transfer spot.

Superior had just enough points to fend off a late rally from Duluth Denfeld in the later events.

Four Spartans swimmers, Kylie Peterson, Ava Denninger, Charlotte Johnson and Maddy Verdoljack had one individual event win and combined on one of two SHS relay wins. Peterson (2:12.09) took the 200-yard freestyle, Johnson (2:42.24) the 200 individual medley, Denninger (1:21.26) the 100 butterfly and Verdoljack (1:05.58) the 100 free.

Kayla Franke had a productive day for Denfeld, taking the 500 free (6:37.90), 100 back (1:19.00) and swimming a leg of a winning 400 free relay.

Hermantown won three of four singles matches in a closely contested Lake Superior Conference dual in Superior.

Emily Gustafson of the Hawks claimed a super-tiebreaker win at No. 2 singles, 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 against Lexi Johnsen of Superior.

In No. 1 doubles, the lone three-setter went to Superior, as Greta Clark and Mattie Schilling defeated the Hawks' Natalie Berg and Lucy Grzbowski, 6-4, 5-7, 10-6.

Sydney Friedrich of Superior took the No. 1 single win, 6-3, 6-2 over Haily Landrigan.