And the strategy against players like Stewartville leading scorer Cole Kropp? “We circled those guys’ names. We know who they are,” Hess said.
After St. Cloud Cathedral’s Drew Lesnau scored the only goal of the game in the first half, fed by Minnesota’s all-time leading goal scorer, Jacob Oliver, the remaining minutes were full of headers and missed chances. The Crusaders (19-1-1) kept control of the ball most of the time with junior defender Jack Ziemann finding pockets in the midfield and Oliver routinely placing his head in scoring range, but nothing could extend their lead.
Oliver, who was embraced postgame by the player whose scoring record he broke this season, Jake Makela of Mankato West, was Hess’ most useful and versatile chess piece.
“All I can do to help the team win is what I want to do,” Oliver said. “So if that’s me sitting back there, winning headers, back there clearing the ball, that’s all I can do. Then I’ll do it. If I need to go score goals, I’ll do it.”
Stewartville senior Matthew Watters said the Tigers (20-1-0) never felt defeated during their first trip to state.
“I think the important thing to note is that, yeah, we conceded early on, but I don’t think that changed our game too much,” he said. “I think that speaks to us as a team, two really good teams out there. They get an early goal, but that really didn’t dictate how we played the rest of the game, and that speaks to the character and constructiveness out on the field.”