Albert Lea shuts out Mankato West to advance to section semifinals

The defending section champion knocked off this year’s section favorite.

With a goal from Claire Sherman in the first half, the Albert Lea girls’ soccer team, the tournament’s No. 9 seed, upset No. 1- seed Mankato West 1-0 Thursday in the Section 2A quarterfinals at Mankato.

“It was simply astonishing what was accomplished by our team tonight,” said Tigers coach Rick Barnhill. “It’s an example of what the mind harbors the body will manifest.”

In seven days, the Tigers went from tying Winona (0-15-2, 0-9-2 Big Nine), a team with a No. 102 ranking through Minnesota-Scores.net’s Quality Results Formula, to beating Mankato West (13-4, 9-2 Big Nine), a team with a No. 7 QRF ranking. After Albert Lea’s win, the Tigers’ QRF improved to No. 65.

The Scarlets had only been shut out twice this season: on Sept. 24 at Rochester Mayo (14-1-2, 11- Big Nine) — the Big Nine Conference champion — and at No. 6 (AA) Wayzata (12-4-1, 6-2 Lake).

Although Mankato West had a 25-9 shots-on-goal advantage and a 24-minute time of possession advantage, Kathryn Flaherty was a steel curtain in the goal for the Tigers (5-9-2, 2-8-1 Big Nine) with 22 saves.

“Kathryn was stellar the whole night, and our defense played like there was no tomorrow,” Barnhill said. “Somehow we managed to keep one of the most talented teams I’ve seen in our section in 12 years at arm’s length.”

Sherman’s goal was scored at the 38-minute mark in the second half with an assist from Haley Lamping, Barnhill said.

The bench stepped up as well.

“All 14 of our players have a piece of this historic effort tonight,” Barnhill said. “Our reserves Syd Doran, Maddy Funk and Emma Tewes all were ready to give what they had, and they made a difference and influenced the outcome.”

Barnhill wanted to thank Megan Kortan, a senior on last year’s state-qualifying team, who spoke to the players, and Becca Dup, another senior from last year’s squad, who has been following this year’s team.

Next, Albert Lea will play at 4 p.m. Wednesday against No. 4-seed Mankato East (10-6-2, 5-5-1 Big Nine) at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Kennedy Field in Mankato. The Cougars are coming off a 2-0 home win over Waseca in the quarterfinals.