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O’Gorman Knights’ state championships was textbook for 2020
After starting the season 2-4-1, the Knights finished 6-4-3 to earn the seventh seed in the SDHSAA Class AA tournament where they claimed the state title. (Courtesy: Ryan Beier)

O’Gorman Knights’ state championships was textbook for 2020

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (BVM) — The No. 7-seeded O’Gorman Knights entered the SDHSAA Class AA boys soccer state championship as the underdogs on paper, facing off against top-seeded, undefeated RC Stevens. 

But O’Gorman didn’t feel like the underdogs.

“Our mindset was pretty confident,” Knights head coach Ryan Beier said. “We knew we were the seventh seed, but kind of had some extenuating circumstances all year to end up with that seventh seed. We actually knew we could play with them.”

Those extenuating circumstances were ones that only a team trying to compete in 2020 would understand.

“It would be a model of 2020,” Beier said.

The Knights entered the season with a team that had limited varsity experience and that was only amplified by the shortened preseason. Then early into the season, three key players had to quarantine for two weeks due to being in close contact with people who had COVID.

“The two weeks we had guys out we had five games,” Beier said. “It couldn’t have been much worse on the timing of it.”

O’Gorman also had players miss games because they had COVID-related symptoms and they weren’t allowed to participate until they got tested. All of this created a situation where Beier and the Knights were using freshman and JV players to fill out the varsity lineup. In a 6-1 loss to Watertown, their worst loss of the season, O’Gorman only had nine varsity players. 

The Knights were 2-4-1 halfway through the season, but they were not discouraged. 

“We had the people, we had the rolls, we just needed to figure out exactly how to play with each other and have that perseverance to just keep pushing forward,” Beier said. “Our players absolutely bought into that.”

Once back to full strength and with the added depth from the now experienced underclassmen, O’Gorman looked to right the ship. Led by senior captains Patryk Stys and Riley Aarbo, players who had been on varsity since eighth grade, the rest of the seniors quickly took on the leadership roles the Knights needed them to fill. 

“Those guys all stepped up,” Beier said about his senior class. 

The rest of the team followed suit, and after its rocky start, O’Gorman ended the season with four wins and two ties to earn a 6-4-3 record and the seventh seed entering the state tournament.

After conceding the first goal of their first-round game against Huron, the Knights scored four unanswered to win 4-2 and advance to the quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Spearfish.

“The last three games of the season kind of had the same dynamic,” Beier said. “The emotion and the mental fortitude to keep playing was a like in all of those games.”

O’Gorman beat Spearfish 3-2 in overtime to earn a rematch against Watertown in the semifinals. The Knights lost to Watertown 6-1 earlier in the year, but they played like a different team in a 2-1 semifinal victory. 

All that was left was a state final matchup against RC Stevens. 

“The teams that make the least amount of mistakes in the soccer game or have the least amount of breakdowns is typically who wins those state championships,” Beier said. “That’s what happened in the game.”

This is O’Gorman boys soccer’s first sanctioned state title in program history. (Courtesy: Ryan Beier)

Stevens struck first off of a clearance from a corner kick to take a 1-0 lead in the final, but O’Gorman responded with just 46.8 seconds left in the first half, tying the match 1-1.

In the second half, the Knights were setting up for a set piece in the 61st minute. Beier was actually yelling at his players because they were setting it up differently than he expected them to, but they waved him off. 

“It was one of those, ‘You know what, trust the kids and let them do it,’ and it all worked out. Probably one of our best goals of the year,” Beier said.

That goal was a 40-yard, high-arching cross that found the head of Patryk Stys who gave the Knights a 2-1 lead that they didn’t relinquish. 

In a year where teams have had to deal with added adversity in the threat of having their season canceled, games being canceled and players missing games, O’Gorman showed that a team can overcome all of that. More than just overcoming it, they can now set themselves up for a very bright future. All those JV and freshman players that stepped up during that two-week span are bringing all that experience back next season.

“I think we have a good group of kids that can step in,” Beier said. “I wouldn’t say we’re ready to win the state championship next year, yet but we definitely have pieces in place to move forward for years to come.”