In an exhilarating 2-0 victory over Rochester Lourdes, BVS clinched their third straight state championship in a row and did it in style. The first half passed relatively quickly with not much action, except for a sliding tackle by Mas Kouakou (‘25) that nearly won him a goal right in front of the Rochester net. The second half got off to a quick start with senior Ezra Straub (‘25) scoring the opening goal within the first ten minutes, managing to poke the ball past the keeper through a jumble of bodies in the box. A mere five minutes later after Liam Sullivan (‘25) was fouled on a breakaway, Straub netted a beautiful free kick from over thirty yards out, catching the keeper off of his line.

Gallery • 11 Photos

Caden Deardurff

TRIPLE TROUBLE. BVS players celebrate after winning the state Class A championship three years in a row. Although the team was seeded first in the tournament, it was a challenging journey to get to the state final as in both the quarterfinal and semifinal matches, BVS ended double overtime scoreless and won both games in intense penalty kick shootouts.

The Spartans were able to stand strong on defense for the remainder of the game and ultimately came out on top as the Minnesota Class A State Champions for boys soccer. This historic win puts BVS down in the record books as the first-ever SPA soccer team to threepeat at the state tournament and only the second-ever boys high school soccer team to threepeat at any level.