Groton Area and Sioux Falls Christian are set to clash for the ‘A’ girls' soccer championship on Saturday evening from Crane-Youngworth Field in Yankton. Last season, the Tigers in the title match to Tea Area 3-1. However, with no seniors on last year’s roster, Groton Area’s squad is back hoping to flip the script this time around.
“We kind of looked at is as last year they were one half away from lifting the ‘A’ trophy. Going about it, we kind of worked on things, looked at film from last year, kind of saw where the improvements could be made and where things need to be corrected,” explained Tigers head coach Matt Baumgartner. “We tried to steer it in that direction, kind of fix some things, and just going about playing a true form of soccer.”
This is also coach Baumgartner’s first year as the head coach for Groton Area. And even though he wasn’t in charge a year ago, he’s confident in his teams plan for Saturday.
“We’re going to rotate bodies, we’re going to rotate people in different spots, and you know what, we’ve come away with twelve different goal scorers this year and 49-goals so far,” he said. “We’ve been privileged to be back in this position.”
Leadership, and having players who have been on this stage before, is something the Tigers plan to lean into.
“Having that experience from last year, I think it’s going to be big. I think it’s going to be a huge component to the game,” explained Baumgartner. “We talk about the leadership all the time. We have seven great seniors out here. That’s what it’s led by. It’s one last hurrah for them, so we want to leave on a good note.”
Their opponents, Sioux Falls Christian, will play in the state title match for the first time. Either way you spin it, one of these teams will leave Yankton on Saturday night as a first-time state champ. The two teams tied 1-1 in their first meeting on August 17th.
Groton Area enters the championship with a 9-1-1 record. If there’s one primary difference for the Tigers, it’s that Crane-Youngworth Field is a turf field, something Groton Area hasn’t seen a lot this season.
“Ten of our eleven games have been on a grass surface, so we’re back on a turf surface. We were lucky enough to get over to [Northern State University] this week to get some turf time, and we were able to [Friday in Yankton],” Baumgartner exclaimed. “The ball is going to skip different, the ball is going to spin different, the ball is going to bounce different. I think the girls enjoy the turf mentality and the turf speed.”
Last year, Groton Area brought an impressive crowd to Brandon Valley high school for the championship. It’s expected they’ll bring another large crowd to Yankton.
Saturday’s title match between Sioux Falls Christian and Groton will take place at 5 pm CT. It’ll air live on SDPB2-TV, and stream live online on YouTube and at SDPB.org/soccer.
