ESKO — After a decade-long absence, the top-seeded Esko Eskomos will make their long-awaited return to the Class A state tournament after edging No. 2 seed Spectrum in a down-to-the-wire 2-1 final in the Section 7A championship, Tuesday, Oct. 18 at Esko Stadium Field.

First-year head coach Sharon Lahti shared her elation for the group after seeing its tight-knit bond culminated in the program’s first state tournament berth since 2011 as Esko/Carlton.

“I’m just so proud of them. Coming in as a new coach this year, you never quite know what the year is going to hold, and they’ve just embraced it and more importantly they embody a team,” Lahti said. “They work together, they have fun together. You’ve seen the hat. It’s hard to even say, I’m just so excited for them.”

Forward Ava Korby played the role of hero for Esko after delivering the game-winning strike in the 25th minute of the second half, with Jordyn Randa picking up the assist.

Where the goal ranks over the course of her career was an easy answer for the senior captain.

“Easily number one. My favorite one,” Korby said. “I just saw the ball out of the corner of my eye (and) I was like I missed my PK over there so this one has to go in.”

Her ability to bounce back from the missed penalty kick in the first half speaks to her resilience, according to Lahti.

“I mean it’s truly a testament to the fact that they’ll just keep on fighting,” Lahti said. “To have that game-winning goal as a senior, I mean wow, what a way to go out in your last home game of your career at Esko.”

Korby’s penalty kick attempt stood as the best chance for either team to score until late in the first half when sophomore Kaitlyn McConnell pushed the Eskomos in front with a goal in the 35th minute.

Esko maintained its one-goal advantage into halftime and continued to push the pace into the second half with three early corner kicks that were unsuccessful.

The Sting rarely controlled the ball in the midst of Esko’s push, but managed to capitalize on a rare miscue inside the 15th minute of the second half, when the state’s leading goal-scorer, Maddie Fritel, broke free on a breakaway and found the equalizer for her 54th score of the season.

Limiting the junior attacker's impact was a point of emphasis for the Eskomos entering Tuesday’s contest. Fritel scored twice in their Sept. 10 meeting.

“We had two games (leading) up to this where they each had a pretty dominant striker. I would say Maddie’s the most dominant in our section,” Lahti said. “We knew that a key thing was to not let her be able to get a shot off, and so we had some mishaps (in) the first part of the first half where we were not able to mark her. Then at halftime (we) talked about how we have to man mark her. She still got loose, because she’s so good.”

Spectrum coach Dana Gibson applauded his team for putting up a much better fight in Tuesday’s match after falling behind 5-0 in their previous match that eventually ended in a 5-2 loss.

“They played their tails off and left everything on the field,” Gibson said. “That was the biggest thing from the last time we met them. Just a totally different team….(We played) solid defense through the back-line and the midfield.”

Nearly 10 minutes of time ticked off the clock after Fritel's tally when Korby sent the Esko contingent of fans into a frenzy with the Eskomos’ second and final goal, which ultimately stood as the game-winner.

Entering Tuesday’s contest, Lahti harped on the importance of keeping a short memory like a goldfish — a lesson taken from television's "Ted Lasso" and put to good use after the tying goal.

“We were just talking about how important that is in a game like this that things are going to happen. You’re going to make mistakes. They might get a goal in, but you have to let it go and you have to go back out and fight. And that’s the mindset that they needed to have and I think that they did,” Lahti said. “They didn’t get too far down in the dumps. It’s like, OK, we gotta kick it up a notch. They were some goldfish out there,” Lahti said.

The Eskomos now await their state tournament seeding with the Class A quarterfinals set to begin on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

This story was updated at 9:30 p.m. on 10/18/2022 to include full coverage from the Section 7A girls soccer final.  It was originally posted at 7:08 p.m. on 10/18/2022.