Winona Area Public SchoolsThe Winona Senior High School boys soccer team pushed one of southeastern Minnesota’s strongest programs into overtime Saturday night in the MSHSL section playoffs.
Unfortunately for the Winhawks, however, Rochester Lourdes found a way to get the goal to move on.
The Winhawks’ season came to a heartbreaking end as they fell to the Eagles 2-1 in overtime in the section quarterfinals on Saturday in Rochester.
Auguste Tadie assisted on a Zach Mortz header on a corner kick to give sixth-seeded Winona a 1-0 lead, but third-seeded Lourdes scored the equalizer in the second half and then the winner four minutes into the extra session.
Winona ended the season with a 7-10-1 record and graduates seniors Hunter Esch, Kolby Johnson, Cam Watkins, Cade Ferstl, Kai Kovala, Auguste Tadie and Hunter Cisewski.
Girls swimming
Section 1A True Team Meet: The Winhawks, swimming in their sixth meet in two weeks, placed fifth out of eight teams with a strong performance.
“We were pleasantly surprised with how well people did,” Winona coach Chris Mayer said.
Mankato West won the meet, and St. Peter was second. Winona finished ahead of Big 9 foes Faribault and Austin.
Divers Issara Schmidt and Morgan Walker took the top two spots in their event, with Schmidt scoring a 440.35 and Walker a 322.70.
Winona also got a first-place finish from Carolyn Macon in the 100 butterfly. She won in 1:01.18.
The Winhawks’ 200 medley relay of Anna MacLennan, Emily Robison, Macon and Mary Hoffman placed third in 1:58.57. Macon also added a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle in 2:05.41.
Kaylee Niemeyer placed fourth in the 200 individual medley in 2:29.56.
“It would have been nice to place a bit higher (as a team), but with being tired, our girls gave their best and that’s all we can ask for,” Mayer said. “We’ll need to make sure that next year we aren’t quite bogged down by meets around this time.”
Winona hosts Rochester Mayo on Tuesday night, then begins championship season. The conference meet is set for Oct. 26.
“We’ll give our girls some much needed rest and they’ll be ready to rock,” Mayer said.