Prep Soccer: Lumberjacks girls, boys advance to State

Fifth-straight state appearance for girls, third-straight for boys

CLOQUET, Minn.- The Cloquet/Carlton girls and Cloquet/Esko/Carlton boys opened their new field Tuesday with a pair of Section 7AA Section Final victories.

The Cloquet/Carlton girls defeated North Branch 3-0 after losing to the Vikings earlier in the season. Lauren Hughes, Makayla Stirewalt and Mackenzie Lynch each scored goals for the Lumberjacks. This is the fifth-straight year Cloquet/Carlton has qualified for the straight tournament.

“It’s always fun,” smiled Head Coach Dustin Randall after the game. “We knew we were going to get a good game, we got to do it at our new field, which is really, really exciting, and they played real well, so I feel really good about it.”

“It feels really good,” said Lumberjacks Goalkeeper Rylee Senich. “I think we really deserve this win, and especially since we lost to them during the season.”

Following the girls’ victory, the Cloquet/Esko/Carlton boys followed suit with a 2-1 overtime win over Grand Rapids to clinch their third-straight trip to state. Joseph Bailey scored the ‘Jacks’ first goal in the first half before Noah Hansen scored the game-winner.