It took two-and-a-half hours, two overtime periods, and six rounds of penalty kicks to name the state champion in ‘AA’ girls’ soccer – but No. 10 seeded Sioux Falls Roosevelt was the last one standing when it was all said and done. The Rough Riders topped Rapid City Stevens 2-1 on Saturday evening at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls to claim their first ever state girls soccer title.
The Raiders scored first in the contest when senior Shea Ellender found the back of the net near the midway point of the first half. For the most part, Stevens looked in control for much of the match, but with 15-minutes to play in regulation Rough Rider sophomore Camryn Wilkinson knocked in a header from a corner kick to tie it at 1-1. This would remain the score through the end of regulation, and through two ten-minute overtime periods.
In the penalty kick sequence of overtime, both teams made three of their five attempts. From there, it went to a sudden victory penalty kicks, round by round. Roosevelt senior Halle Miller scored the deciding goal in the sixth round of penalty kicks, which sealed the victory for the Rough Riders.
“It’s obviously nerve-racking going into two ten-minute overtimes and then all the way into our sixth penalty kick shooter, but it’s such a relief and I’m just so happy for my girls,” said Roosevelt girls head soccer coach Cori Bonte.
The Rough Riders were the No. 10 seeded team coming into the postseason. Their regular season record of 4-5-2 was anything but impressive, but they got hot at the right time.
Coach Bonte named this year’s postseason ‘The Revenge Tour.’
“After our regular season, we knew that we needed to step up and do something and ‘the revenge tour’ kind of got named because we came back and beat all the teams that beat us earlier this year,” Bonte explained.
In the postseason, Roosevelt beat Pierre, Brandon Valley, and Sioux Falls Lincoln – all teams who beat them during the regular season. They then had to play Rapid City Stevens in the championship game. The Raiders had defeated Roosevelt 3-0 in late August.
Sioux Falls Roosevelt’s fairytale ending to 2021 is also their first sanctioned state girls’ soccer championship. Last year, the Rough Riders finished runner-up to Brandon Valley.
