Times announces player of the year and all-area teams
Nate Davis
SAINT CLOUD – For the third year in a row St. Cloud Tech and St. Cloud Cathedral made it to the Class 2A and Class A boys soccer tournaments and this year the Tigers and Crusaders advanced to the final four.
Cathedral managed to win its thirdplace game, the best the team has ever finished, but Tech lost to DeLaSalle 3-1 after giving up a a halftime lead.
Sartell-St. Stephen was another local team that had high hopes in Class 3A, even beating St. Cloud Tech days before the Section 8-3A tournament, but the Sabres lost 2-1 in the section championship to St. Michael-Albertville (9-11).
Sartell, Tech and other schools in central Minnesota all have players on the 2023 St. Cloud Times all-area teams, but Cathedral placed the most athletes on the list with eight. Senior Jacob Plante secured the 2023 player of the year as captain of the Crusaders’ elite defense.
The fall 2023 all-area teams were picked from student athletes who competed for Apollo (13-5-1), Cathedral (21-1), ROCORI (6-9-2), Sartell (13-2-3), Sauk Rapids-Rice (5-10), and Tech (99-3).
Selections were made based on statistics, recommendations from coaches and insights from Times staff who covered the various sports and teams this season. The 2023 SC Times all-area soccer teams are made up of 11 players. First and second teams have two forwards, five midfielders, three defenders and one goalie as listed in the teams’ official rosters. Many were used around the field, as their statistics show.
Besides the player of the year, selections are listed in alphabetical order.
First team all-area:
Player of the year: Jacob Plante, Cathedral senior defender
Plante and the Crusaders allowed a school record-low four goals this season, including in six postseason games. Cathedral won 20 straight games until its 1-0 loss to Pine Island/ZumbrotaMazeppa (15-3-2) on Nov. 1 in the Class A semifinal game in U.S. Bank stadium. That’s 18 shutouts counting the team’s 1-0 third place win over Holy Family (135-3) the day after its only loss. This year was Cathedral’s 13th consecutive conference win and third straight trip to state.
For his play, Plante was one of four finalists for Class A Mr. Soccer, an honor won by Cooper Olson of Class A champion St. Paul Academy (14-4-3). Scoring three goals and assisting five over the season, Plante was named first team allstate, all-Granite Ridge Conference and was on the state tournament team.
Plante was captain of Cathedral’s record-setting defense, but he had help on the back line from seniors Elias Drong and Philip O’Neal and sophomore Griffin Sturm. O’Neal and Sturm just missed out on the all-area teams. Kader Abdi, Apollo senior defender In the Section 8-2A championship
Apollo played Tech all the way to a 0-0 draw after overtime. The Eagles had beaten the Tigers 3-0 earlier in the season but lost the chance to compete at state in the section final four made penalty kicks to three.
Abdi was a part of the defense that held Tech to zero goals in both games, two of nine Eagle shutouts this season. On offense the senior had 5 goals and 3 assists. Apollo finished third in the CLC behind Sartell and Willmar with a 6-3-1 conference record.
Caleb Campina, Tech senior defender
Cathedral entered the tournament undefeated, but Tech won four straight postseason games to reach the semifinal. The Tigers lost their last three regular season games and three of the four postseason wins were by a onegoal margin, including the win over Apollo and the state quarterfinal Oct. 25 against Cloquet/Esko/Carlton (15-3).
Campina scored against CEC and against DeLaSalle in the state tourney, earning a spot on the all-tournament team.
Listed in every position but keeper, Campina patrolled the length of the pitch, managing the middle of the field. He ranged far enough to score 17 goals and assist three, but his biggest contribution may have been his leadership, according to coach Dan Stoterau.
“Caleb is fiercely focused and is one of the finest finishers I’ve seen at
Tech,” Stoterau said “He is a great leader through his positive attitude and effort and ‘never give up’ demeanor. He loves soccer and he sure plays like it.” Campina was named all-CLC.
Marcus Congdon, Sartell senior forward
Congdon was an assist merchant for Sartell this season, dealing out 18 passes to teammates who scored. He was fifth in the state in assists across all three classes and also had 10 goals. Congdon was named to the Class 3A all-state second team in addition to the all-conference team. The Sabres’ only two losses came at the hands of St. Michael-Albertville, including in the Section 8-3A championship. Sartell was 7-0-2 in the CLC and won the conference, the only two blemishes coming on the road against second and third place teams Willmar and Tech.
Seth Davidson, Sartell junior midfielder
Davidson was on the receiving end of many of Congdon’s assists. He led Sartell in goals with 18, but Davidson also dished 11 assists. The junior had a hat trick to open the season Aug. 24 in a 5-0 win over Big Lake and he had three goals and an assist late in the season in a 4-1 revenge win over Tech.
In 2023 Davidson earned all-conference honors.
Cole Hwang, Cathedral senior midfielder
Hwang was another essential piece to Cathedral’s three straight state appearances. He had nine goals and four assists this year in addition to playing back with the Crusaders’ suffocating defense. Hwang helped get scoring started in the Section 8-1A championship by assisting teammate Jack Stang’s opening goal. Two of Hwang’s goals came in the postseason.
Abdirahman Isse, Apollo senior midfielder
Having scored 17 goals this season and assisted 10, Isse was named to the 2023 all-state first team despite missing out on the state tournament. Isse was also first team all-conference with teammates Carl Shobe, Imran Mohamed and Landon Hale.
Jacob Oliver, Cathedral sophomore midfielder
Oliver was one of Minnesota’s most prolific scorers this season, netting 29 goals – third among players in all classes. He also had 14 assists, leading Cathedral’s lineup in points. The sophomore was rewarded with an all-state second team nomination in addition to all GRC and state tournament recognitions. For the all-tournament nod, Oliver scored and had an assist in the tournamentopening win Oct. 25 against Duluth Marshall (13-4-2).
Oliver was the only underclassman selected to the all-area team this season.
Kyan Rieder, Sartell senior goalie
From his position in net Rieder literally had his hands in all of Sartell’s five shutout wins. The senior captain had 129 saves this year and only allowed 19 goals in 18 games. Rieder was one of five all-conference Sabres in their undefeated CLC campaign.
Jack Stang, Cathedral junior forward
Stang had 26 goals this season, sixth most in the state. He drew a lot of coverage, including a double team in the fateful semifinal. Still, the junior managed to tie for the 10th most assists this season by players in any class with 15. One of those assists went to senior Blake Newiger, who scored the only goal in the third-place game against Holy Family.
Stang made the all-state first team with Plante and was also all-GRC and all-state tournament.
Connor Stockman, Cathedral junior midfielder Stockman was another goal-happy midfielder out of Cathedral. He had 13 this season with seven assists, good for an all-conference honorable mention selection.
“A junior with great footwork and a great left and right foot,” coach Alex Hess said. “He can strike the ball from anywhere and it will be dangerous.”
Second team all-area:
Omar Ali, Tech senior midfielder Anthony Colatrella, Sartell senior defender
Elias Drong, Cathedral senior defender
Abdiwahab Gedi, Tech senior defender
Hamdi Hassan, Apollo senior midfielder
Noah Henderson, Cathedral junior goalie
Osvaldo Matias, ROCORI junior forward
Blake Newiger, Cathedral senior midfielder
Leif Rudnick, Sauk Rapids senior midfielder
Alex Sonju, ROCORI senior forward Baylor Stebbins, Sartell senior midfielder