We were always on the ball and that just helped us be more aggressive and lead us to the win.”

Senior captain and defender Mac Maluski

I told them don’t hang your heads, you guys had a great season, a great first win (in sections).”

Park head coach Andrew Bourgoine

A year ago, Park knocked off favored Rosemount at home 1-0 to win a section championship and a berth in the 2023 state boys soccer tournament.
This time around the game went the other way.
The second-seeded and favored Irish led 1-0 most of the game, then tacked on a pair of second-half goals for a 3-0 victory over sixth-seeded Park in the Class 3A Section 3 Semifinal at Rosemount.
Rosemount (10-4-2) advances to the section finals against fourth-ranked Eagan (14-1-1). Eagan defeated Hastings 2-0 in the other section semifinal Thursday. Park ends its season at 7-11 overall.
The loss to Rosemount was hard, but Park’s section-opening win against Apple Valley just two days before was a game the seniors will remember.
“I just told them don’t hang your heads,” said Park head coach Andrew Bourgoine. “It was homecoming week this week for Park, so the coronation was today, there was other stuff today and I think the kids were just exhausted. You could just tell on the field, no one had their legs, no one had the energy to do anything. I don’t know if that was homecoming week, because it's never this late in the season or they just used all their energy in the game before and they just didn’t have anything left in the tank.
“I told them don’t hang your heads, you guys had a great season, a great first win (in sections),” Bourgoine added. “I’m especially proud of the senior class. A lot of these seniors were on the team last year as well that made the state tournament. Never hang their heads on the career that they had.
Rosemount came into the game following a narrow 1-0 win at home over Burnsville in the section quarterfinals. But the Irish looked strong and quick Thursday and took a 1-0 lead just six minutes into the game. That’s where the score stood for the rest of the first half and for the early part of the second.
Rosemount pushed across another goal with 15:22 to play, then added insult to injury with a third goal with just 5:46 to play.
Park will have a major rebuilding job next season, replacing 10 seniors off the 18-man varsity roster, including three of four captains in Tristan Lee, Mac Maluski, Devin Igl as well as Logan Zumbado-Viehauser, Gavin Oberding, Benny Manirishura, Jack Doherty, Leo-Eiden Giel, Jostin Espinosa and Luke Rikkola.
Park 3, Apple Valley 1
After sleepwalking through most of the regular season, the Wolfpack got the wakeup call they needed – the playoffs.
Sixth-seeded Park got off to a fast start and dominated almost the entire game in a 3-1 win over third-seeded Apple Valley in boys Section 3A soccer quarterfinals Tuesday.
Senior captain Tristen Lee scored the first two goals of the game to give the Wolfpack a 2-0 lead at the break.
Jumping out to 2-0 early lead was a key to the win.
“That was really the tone of the game,” said Park senior defender Jostin Espinosa. “Like scoring the first goal we just got into the motto, the job’s not done, scored another one, job’s still not done. Scored one more, job’s not done. It doesn’t matter how many goals we score; we still want to score more. That’s all soccer’s about, scoring goals and defending your net.”
Logan Zumbado-Viehauser then made it a 3-0 game early in the second half and that was basically the ball game.
“I feel like tonight, everybody had, even in school, everybody had motivation to play,” said Lee. “I felt like, its section time, so if we lose, we’re out. So, I feel that everybody wanted to finish the season off strong and that’s how we got that win tonight. Everybody played 100 percent. Even the people on the bench, they didn’t give up on us. I feel that kind of helped us, too. And I think we just wanted it more.”
Apple Valley scored a meaningless goal with 3:25 to play, but basically this was a near-perfect game for the Wolfpack.
“I thought that tonight we pressured them very well,” said senior captain and defender Mac Maluski. “We won a lot of 50-50 balls and every time they got the ball we were up in their half, pressuring them, not letting them make a pass or get the first touch. We were always on the ball and that just helped us be more aggressive and lead us to the win.”
Park junior Ben Fee got the win in goal and successfully turned away numerous Apple Valley attempts until the game’s final minutes.
Park advanced with a 7-10 record. Apple Valley finished the season 8-6-3.
Other quarterfinal winners were top-seeded Eagan 7-1 over eighth-seeded Bloomington Jefferson, second-seeded Rosemount 1-0 over seventh-seeded Burnsville, and fourth-seeded Hastings 2-1 over fifth-seeded Eastview in overtime.