Ready for 4th Straight State Appearance, Cloquet-Carlton is No Underdog against Unbeaten Mankato East

Thursday's contest is at Irondale with gametime at 5:30.

CLOQUET, Minn.- The Cloquet-Carlton girls soccer team continues to prove every year that they belong in the state tournament.

And Thursday’s 1st round game will mark the 4th consecutive season that they’ve made the tourney.

This time around, the Lumberjacks will be labeled as the underdogs. As they matchup with unbeaten Mankato East, who is currently 19-0 on the year.

Head Coach Dustin Randall says his team’s experience bodes well against the Cougars, because Mankato East is making their 1st ever tournament appearance.

“The reality is they have never been to this tournament before. We’ll see how that plays a role. We don’t a lot about their competition. Looking at similar matchups with the teams in the tournament, there’s not a lot of overlap. Yeah, they have a great record and I expect a good game. It’s the state tournament and all the teams are good but we’re not going to be intimidated,” said Randall.

“We’ve been doing some research on them and watching some of their film. They’re pretty good but to us seeded, unseeded, that doesn’t matter. We’re just going to play our game and see what happens. Obviously, both teams are going to work their hardest and we’ll see what happens,” added senior midfielder Alexa Snesrud.

Thursday’s contest is at Irondale with gametime at 5:30.