Stars of the Cities announces rosters
The rosters will represent Minneapolis and Saint Paul in the historic match ups.
The 2023 Stars of the Cities games promise to be an exciting set of matchups between the two twin cities. The rosters were announced today for the boys and girls teams for both sides, so as a preview of the in-depth article that will done on the event and mark The Midwest Game’s first article-proper, here is a quick look at the teams and players.
Minneapolis Rosters
Boys (21 players)
Emmett Brown (senior, Washburn), Nels Mortenson (senior, Washburn), Charlie Gustafson (senior, Washburn), Robbie Lee (junior, Washburn), Max Converse (senior, Washburn), Ronan Selbo (junior, Washburn), Grayson Pickar (senior, Washburn), Francis Endrizzi (senior, Edison), Theo Bubser (senior, Edison), Oliver Needleman (junior, Edison), Kay Lind (junior, Edison), Jesus Gayton-Santana (junior, Edison), Tate Knutson (senior, Southwest), Max Resnik (senior, Southwest), Mathhew Ellis (junior, Southwest), Farhan Mohamed (sophomore, Roosevelt), Danny Bargos (senior, Roosevelt), Henry Murray (senior, Roosevelt), Liam Johnson (junior, South), Theo Cornell (senior, South), Sebastian Recediz Sandoval (senior, Henry)
Girls (22 players)
Addie Smith (senior, Southwest), Lucy Crane (senior, Southwest), Megan Schoenke (senior, Southwest), Anne Layon (senior, Southwest), Kate Payton (sophomore, Southwest), Megan Curley (sophomore, Southwest), Alex Di Fiore (senior, Southwest), Izzy McEwan (senior, Washburn), Sydney Ruckett (junior, Washburn), Kate Moore (senior, Washburn), Amelia Anderson (senior, Washburn), Sylvia Pulkrabek (senior, Washburn), Charlotte Percy (junior, Washburn), Rachel Anderson (senior, Roosevelt), Cady Davis (senior, Roosevelt), Kiara Behl (senior, Roosevelt), Julia Levin (senior, Roosevelt), Ella Tennant (senior, South), Janie Gehrenbeck-Miller (senior, South), Dinkenesh Kendrick (senior, South), Yazmin Bello Peralta (freshman, Edison-Henry), Kimberly Hernandez (senior, Edison-Henry)
Minneapolis teams this season
In the boys category, Washburn were the talk of the town this season. They went 6-0 in conference play to top the standings and finished 17-2 overall, their season ending with a 2-1 loss to Wayzata in the Section 6AAA championship game. Southwest are the other Class AAA team in this group. Their boys team had difficult periods this season, but were competitive in conference play and only narrowly saw their season end early in the section quarterfinals, 2-1 to Hopkins. Edison, South, and Patrick Henry met early postseason ends in the Section 5AA quaterfinals, with Edison having the best regular season of the three. Roosevelt made it a step farther to the 5AA semifinals but lost 2-0 to eventual champions DeLaSalle.
Southwest grabbed the headlines in girls soccer this year, winning the Minneapolis City conference and making the Section 6AAA semifinals, where they lost 2-1 to Wayzata. They got there by beating a strong Washburn team that finished second in conference and ended the year 7-10 overall. In Section 5AA, Roosevelt and South both made runs to the semifinals but lost to Blake and Benilde-St. Margaret’s respectively. Edison-Henry-North had the toughest season, finishing 5-10 overall and ending the season early in the section quarterfinals.
Saint Paul Rosters
Boys (24 players)
Rhys Tidwell (senior, Central), Tommy Voshell (sophomore, Central), Henry Ogg (sophomore, Central), Abdullahi Geedj (junior, Central), Alexandru Cernea (sophomore, Central), Eli Moseman (sophomore, Central), Chris Palma (junior, Highland Park), Caiden Romo (senior, Highland Park), Tenzing Walker (junior, Highland Park), Ayub Suleiman (senior, Highland Park), Sam Schlukebier (senior, Highland Park), Ku Reh (senior, Como Park), Baw Reh (senior, Como Park), Takato Muramatsu (junior, Como Park), Than Soe (senior, Humboldt), Blue Gay Htoo (senior, Humboldt), Xavier Harris (sophomore, Humboldt), Baeh Moo (junior, Harding), Jacob Htoo (junior, Harding), Rahun Her (junior, Harding), Christopher Lopez (junior, Johnson), Adoni Lopez (freshman, Johnson), Sa Kwa Min (senior, Washington), Awal Wako (sophomore, Washington)
Girls (24 players)
Lennon Foltsad (junior, Central), Hannah Klubberud (senior, Central), Maia Oberg (junior, Central), Vita Hoculi (sophomore, Central), Szofia England (junior, Central), Ava Lopez (junior, Como Park), Say Say Hinton (senior, Como Park), Giselle Sanchez-Esparza (junior, Como Park), Nini Modisett (freshman, Como Park), Claire Acker (junior, Highland Park), Grace Little (junior, Highland Park), Ellery Merriam (senior, Highland Park), Greta Goodspeed (senior, Highland Park), Ava Arredondo (senior, Highland Park), Nadine Mutesi (senior, Humboldt), Anja Gundale (senior, Humboldt), Mue Ler Htoo (senior, Humboldt), Hae Tha Paw (senior, Humboldt), Allyson Vue (junior, Johnson), Dao Sangwang (senior, Johnson), Ana Benitez Garcia (8th grade, Washington), Ruby Gonzalez Maldonado (junior, Washington), Natalie Westin (junior, Harding), Ayziah Powell (junior, Harding)
Saint Paul teams this season
Central boys soccer had a blockbuster regular season, ending the year unbeaten in conference play and with a Saint Paul Cup win over Highland Park at Allianz Field. The postseason was short for them with a quarterfinal loss to Cretin-Derham Hall but the team’s quality was clear. Highland Park were second in the conference standings and had a generally strong season, which came to an end against Holy Angels in the Section 3AA semifinals. Como Park, Johnson, and Harding all suffered similar fates early in the boys Section 4AA and 3AA tournaments. Humboldt bowed out early in Section 3A, but Washington boys shined bright, winning the Section 4A championship and making one state tournament appearance in a 2-1 loss to St. Paul Academy.
Central girls also won the St. Paul City conference with an unbeaten 6-0 record, along with a 0-0 outing at Allianz Field, but also lost their opening section game, falling 4-0 to Stillwater in Section 4AAA. Highland Park, Harding, Como Park, and Johnson all lost their section quarterfinals in Section 3AA and 4AA respectively. Highland Park and Como Park had looked most impressive in the regular season, going 5-1 and 3-2-1 in conference play and ending the year with generally positive 7-5-3 and 6-5-2 overall records. In single A play, Humboldt dealt Washington a big defeat in the Section 4A quarterfinals, before ending their own season in the semifinals to Concordia Academy.