Captains come through for Fargo Shanley to send Deacons to ND boys soccer title match for 2nd time in 3 years

BISMARCK — The Fargo Shanley boys soccer team has largely been led this season by its group of 13 seniors.

That was no different on Friday night, as it was Shanley’s two senior captains connecting on an 18th-minute goal that ultimately gave the Deacons a 1-0 win over Jamestown in the North Dakota boys soccer state tournament semifinals at the MDU Resources Community Bowl.

The deciding goal came after the Deacons drew a corner kick that was taken from the right corner. Shanley captain Andrew Kankelfritz took the corner and sent it into the box where it found the head of fellow captain Peter Noah, who butted it past Jamestown junior goalkeeper Grant Lunde for the lead.

Sixty-two minutes later, the Deacons found themselves advancing to the state championship game for the second time in three seasons. Shanley, the top seed out of the East Region, will square off with Bismarck Legacy, the top seed out of the West at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Both teams carry a record of 15-1-2 into the match.

“They mean a lot,” Shanley head coach Ryan Christianson said of his senior class. “They’ve been here since they were eighth-graders. They’ve been grinding and they’ve been through some pretty rough seasons. Now, this is their final season and they’re making it count. They just get each other going and it helps a lot.”

Noah, who’s known for his scoring ability despite being a defender, said positioning was key in netting the winner.

“For me, headers are one of the biggest strengths of my game,” Noah said. “We talked about our positioning, I happened to be going down the middle and it’s kind of one of those moments you just blank out on. I cut through the middle, hit it and it’s in the back of the net.”

Christianson said Noah is one of the team’s go-to players on plays from the corner.

“We have guys who can put it away on corners with their heads,” Christianson said. “Peter Noah, he had eight goals last year just from his forehead. He was one of our leading goal scorers last year as a center back. His time was due and he ran through and got it.”

Another crucial moment came with just over seven minutes remaining when Jamestown was awarded a free kick from 24 yards. Junior midfielder Brady Harty took the kick, which was sent clean on goal and stopped by Shanley senior keeper Matt Berg to keep the Deacons’ 1-0 lead intact.

Berg finished with an unofficial total of five saves.

“He’s got good hands,” Christianson said. “Again, he’s been with our program since day one. Having him back there is a huge help.”

Shanley finished the night with 18 shots to Jamestown’s 11. Lunde finished with six saves for the Blue Jays.

Jamestown, the West Region’s No. 2 seed, fell to 12-3-2 and will face West No. 3 Minot (11-3-6) in the third-place match at 1:15 p.m. Saturday.

Shanley is seeking its second state championship in program history, the first coming in 2008. The Deacons last advanced to the title match in 2021 where they fell to Fargo Davies in a dramatic penalty shootout that ended 10-9.

“Sadly, I think about that a lot,” Noah said. “That was a big thing going into this. My junior year, we kind of slept and didn’t get back in there (to the state championship game). But this year, we realized we can’t take anything for granted. We’ve got to come out and play every single game as hard as we can.

“Even though we’re the No. 1 seed, it doesn’t matter. We’re still out to get more. We’re still out to prove ourselves, make the headlines and do everything like that.”

The Deacons have scored just two goals in the tournament, earning two 1-0 results to advance to Saturday. Sometimes, that’s all it takes. But against a Legacy team that’s scored six on the weekend and is in search of its first state title, Christianson is confident it’s going to take more than one to bring the hardware home to Fargo.

“Absolutely,” Christianson said. “That’s another team with a lot of good seniors. They’ve been grinding through the program, as well, since they were freshmen. (Saturday) is going to be a pretty wild game I think.

“We’re having a lot of opportunities, we just can’t find the back of the net. We’ll take the one-nil win because it’s state and we’ll take whatever we can get, but hopefully we’re saving the goals for (Saturday) for the championship game.”