Woodbury Girls Soccer Survives Scare

is growing into a girls soccer powerhouse in the Suburban East Conference this season.

But following a 2-1 win against Roseville on Tuesday, co-head coach Bill Ebertz said the team can’t afford to get complacent.  

“It was a little too close for comfort,” he said.

Roseville played the Royals to a 1-1 draw for the first 72 minutes of the match, with scores coming from Woodbury’s Andrea Lenartz in the 19^th minute and a tying tally on a free kick from the Raiders’ Grace Wilson in the 68^th minute.

“We got a little bit of a wake-up call when they got that goal,” Ebertz said.

With the game knotted at one apiece, Madison Nelson scored her team-high eighth goal of the season on a counterattack in the 72^nd minute.

“Nobody's an easy (opponent). You can't take anybody lightly. We proved that today,” Ebertz said. “It's a tough conference. Even the teams on the bottom come out ready to play every game.”

The win moved Woodbury to 10-3 overall (6-0 Suburban East) and the team also recently moved up a spot to No. 6 in the most recent state coaches poll.

Raiders captain Alison Baumgartner said an upset would have been nice.

“(But) for us to play a game like that against Woodbury, that was a pretty awesome game,” Baumgartner said. “We hoped to win, but when you play hard, the result is the result.”

Roseville coach Dave Alm said the young team is still learning how to play together.

“The regular season is the first season for us, when we're learning to play the game. The next season will be sectionals,” he said.

Both teams return to action Thursday.

The Royals host White Bear Lake, while the Raiders (4-7 overall, 1-5 Suburban East) play at Forest Lake on Thursday.