MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — After a historic season highlighted by the extraordinaire play by the Changamire sisters — Adele and Andersyn — resetting the MSHSL benchmark for goals (66 by Adele) and assists (33 from Andersyn) in a single season, the Becker girls’ soccer team fell 6-0 to Academy of Holy Angels in the MSHSL Class 2A State Semifinals.
The Stars dominated the possession early and often, taking a 2-0 lead into halftime despite living on the Bulldogs’ defensive half.
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Coming out of the lockers, Holy Angels quickly poured on three more goals as senior Emma Danberry secured a hat trick to boatrace Becker off the pitch and secure another trip to the state championship game.
“We felt like we were in it,” coach Arnold Changamire said. “Even though we conceded goals, I felt like we defended them better in the second half because we just kept attacking the ball.”
Holding a 66-goal scorer to few looks at the net is a hard feat to accomplish, but it is something the Stars have done time-and-time again this season as the ‘Dogs were just another obstacle in their way.
Becker did give perennial state contender a couple of hiccups in prep for the contest with its unique “8-1-1” formation with Andersyn and Adele staggered away from the defenders near the box.
“The biggest thing was just to work together [defensively],” senior defender Claire Meyer said. “Having two elite players trying to score on you for 80 minutes is a lot of pressure to take in, but we knew that we face a lot of good front lines and would have each other’s backs to defend that type of pressure.”
A game away from the pinnacle of high school soccer, the Dogs will be using this outcome to propel even further in the years ahead.
Becker will graduate just three seniors in the spring — defender Stella Bloch, defender Alix Schulte and midfielder Alyssa Kinney — as the trio went 3-8-3 in 2023 as freshman before realizing three consecutive winning seasons to end their careers.
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“When I came here, we wouldn’t even win our first section game,” Bloch said. “It’s amazing seeing how far this team has come.”
Despite the lopsided outcome, the Bulldogs have much to be prideful of in their first-ever state tournament appearance.
“The goal is to always be here,” coach Changamire said. “We’re a young team. We have a lot of eighth graders, so we’re excited about the future. These seniors have set the standard now, and the work that they’ve done over the last couple of years is kudos to them.”
Becker’s season is not completely over, though. The Bulldogs will take on Mahtomedi at noon, Friday, Nov. 6 in the Class 2A third-place game at West St. Paul Regional Athletics Center.
You can reach St. Cloud Times sports reporter David Jacobs and send story ideas and tips to djacobs@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @By_DavidJacobs, and on Instagram @ByDavidJacobs.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Becker’s historic season ends in state semis; ‘It’s amazing how far this team has come’
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