Tag Archives: Martin Manocchio

Packer soccer team is headed to Class ‘A’ state tournament for first time in school history

By Rocky Hulne | Austin Daily Herald

Originally published 08:46 p.m., October 24, 2009

ROCHESTER — One amazing goal got it started, and another stellar score put it away as Austin clinched it’s first trip to the Class ‘A’ boys state soccer tournament in school history.

Section Champs!2The No. 2 seeded Packers beat top seeded Rochester Lourdes 2-0 at RCTC Saturday.

“This win is absolutely huge and we have an amazing team here,” Austin keeper Ryan Rasell said. “It’s probably the best that’s ever come through Austin.”

Junior midfielder Ronaldo Rubio gave the Packers (14-5 overall) all the momentum they needed when he booted a 30-yard goal from the corner that arced over the head of Lourdes keeper Will Elder to make it 1-0 Austin in the 15th minute.

“It was a ridiculous shot and it was great to get a goal in the first half,” Austin midfielder Jacob Brehmer said. “We capatlized on our opportunities and our defense played great.”

Rubio insisted that he was attempting a shot and not just trying to get the ball in the zone. But he was feeling some nerves.

“I was a little bit nervous and I didn’t actually think I would play this great,” he said. “It was very exciting for me.”

Jacob AustinvsLourdesSoccerBrehmer gave the Packers all the breathing room they would need in the 55th minute when he bent a 20-yarder from the right side that landed into the left side of the net.

“They’re a heck of a team and they’re really ferocious, so I knew I had to kick it when I did, even though I normally can’t shoot from far out,” Brehmer said. “I just kind of swung at it and it went in.”

The Packer defense did a solid job of keeping Lourdes from getting any easy shots, but the penetration of Joe Charlesworth created some problems for Austin. Rasell made a diving save on a shot by Charlesworth with 10:24 to go in the match and Rasell stopped a header by Jon Tousley of Lourdes (14-5-2 overall) with 8:09 to go.

Jacob 2 AustinvsLourdesSoccer“I went for everything,” said Rasell, who had 14 saves. “If I thought I could get it, I went for it and everything seemed to stick this game. I held on to everything. I assumed there would be a lot of tough shots, so I prepared myself for it.”

Austin’s depth gave them fresh legs and it helped it close the match out as the Packers were able to keep posession for most of the second half.

“Every player on the bench can step in and play any role without a problem,” said Austin head coach Jens Levisen.

Jacob3AustinvsLourdesSoccerAustin has 14 seniors that will be enjoying their first trip to the state tournament. While many of them were on the U17 team that won state over the summer, this adds to that accomplishment.

“Our whole team has been playing amazing, it’s so fun to be part of this great group of guys,” Brehmer said. “The number of fans we had was ridiculous and it’s one of the best games of soccer I’ve played in.”

Austin, which had 11 shots on goal Saturday, will play No. 2 seeded Simley (17-1-4 overall) in the first round at the state tournament. The match will take place Friday at 7:30 p.m. and will be held in Roseville Area High School.

Austin 5 Faribault 0 (9.21.09)

From the Austin Daily Herald:

The Packers weren’t messing around. The Austin boys soccer team got off to a fast start in a 5-0 win over Faribault in Art Hass Stadium Monday night.

Austin's Martin Manocchio (right) battles for posession with Faribault's Ben Heppner during the Packers' 5-0 win over the Falcons at Art Hass Stadium Monday. Manocchio scored two goals in the win.

Austin's Martin Manocchio (right) battles for posession with Faribault's Ben Heppner during the Packers' 5-0 win over the Falcons at Art Hass Stadium Monday. Manocchio scored two goals in the win.

Senior forward Martin Manocchio scored two breakaway goals in the first eight minutes and Austin (6-2 overall, 3-2 Big Nine) went on to score four times in the first half. Manocchio’s first goal came off of a strong boot from keeper Ryan Rasell, and the second came on a bomb from Jordan Broers. Austin’s Alex Klock said the Falcons (2-5 overall, 0-3 Big Nine) were practically daring the Packers to go deep. “Faribault pushes up towards the half line a lot. So we ended up with a lot more long through balls. ” he said. “If they want to play that off-side trap on us, we’ll eat them up every time. We’ve got people who can beat their defense one on one.” Pedro Herrera scored in the 18th minute on the first of Rolando Rubio’s three assists. Peter Lindahl scored in the 32nd minute for Austin and Herrera scored again in the 59th minute. Klock said the Packers, who have won five straight, still remembered when they settled for a tie at Faribault last season. “Faribault’s a rivalry game and we feel like we have a lot better team this year and we had a lot of momentum coming in. When we played Pine Island (Saturday) and got the lead, we slowed it down,” Klock said. “There was definitely no intention of doing that here, no matter what the score was. We’d of ran it to 30 if we could.” Austin head coach Jens Levisen was pleased with what his team showed, although he thought they may have tried to push it up-field a few too many times. “They knew they wanted to come and show something tonight and we played solid soccer tonight,” Levisen said. “I saw a few more through balls then I’d like to see, but that’s how they were setting up their defense and you have to react to it.” Austin will host its youth soccer night Thursday. All youth soccer players wearing a jersey will get in for free and there will be two youth games at halftime. Players will also receive a free poster of the Austin varsity soccer team.