by Ian Katan
MINNEAPOLIS — With two matches remaining in what has been a challenging League Two season, Minneapolis City SC turned its sights towards a separate competition, and found its biggest win of the year.
The final group-stage game of the Minnesota Super Cup brought Minnesota United FC’s MLS Next team to Edor Nelson Field. Both Minneapolis and Minnesota beat Rochester FC in their first of two group games, City 2-1 and United 1-0. That slight difference in goals scored meant that the Crows would qualify for the Super Cup final with a win or a draw, and the Lil’ Loons would only advance with a win.
“For those that aren’t as familiar with the Minnesota soccer community, that Lil’ Loons team is good,” City head coach Justin Oliver said. “They went to the Minnesota Cup final last year, they beat us at home last year.”
After losing to the MNUFC MLS Next team in last year’s inaugural Super Cup match, the Crows bounced back in their second group stage game by beating Duluth FC 3-1 and qualifying for the competition’s semifinals. Their tournament run ended there, as a 3-2 loss to eventual champion Med City FC was the final match of City’s season. This year, motivation is high to go out on a happier note.
Standing in their way, though, MNUFC’s Academy were far from an easy opponent. The Lil’ Loons managed a 4th-place finish in the MLS Next Mid-America Division and a trip to the MLS Next Playoffs last month. But knowing the quality within its squad, Minneapolis was still confident.
“Obviously we have a lot of great players on the team, but there was something that is not clicking,” Crows forward Steevie Lamarre said, looking back on recent performances that weren’t always rewarded with attacking returns.
“When the dam breaks, when the luck starts to break for them,” City founder Dan Hoedeman foreshadowed on live commentary as the match kicked off, “we’ve got a team that can really go on a tear.”
On Sunday evening, the dam didn’t last long.
Less than a minute in, a high-press on a short goal kick meant City was already within yards of the United net when it forced a turnover. A bobbled pass allowed forward Eli Goldman to pounce before it reached the intended target. With his first touch of the game, Goldman slammed the Crows into a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish for the remaining 89 minutes.
Taking just 50 seconds, Goldman’s finish was Minneapolis’ fastest ever.
For a team that has struggled to find the back of the net,— at one point going three games without scoring — the Crows’ early advantage served as a reminder of what they’re capable.
“If you focus on your process over an extended period of time, that is going to win out at some point,” head coach Justin Oliver said following the match. “We felt like we were creating good looks in a bunch of our games, and we weren’t taking our chances. Today, we did.”
Bolstered by an immediate lead, City wasted little time taking control of the evening’s proceedings. Goldman, along with Sidike Jabateh, Henri Tophoven, Bernard Assibey-Rhule, and Mizael Harris, gave United defenders headaches with tireless forward runs. The Crows took advantage of the Loons’ high line, using well-weighted balls over the top to fashion at least seven notable-chances in the first half; any of which might have doubled their lead.
“Playing, like, one, two, three-touches, trying to be quick, and then just combining well,” Tophoven said postgame, about what went well for his side offensively. “We are really making a lot of runs from each other, depending on each other, so it’s gone really well these last two games.”
Deserving applause for preventing those chances, however, was MNUFC shotstopper Oliver Kelly. Multiple close-range saves frustrated City’s frontline, who would have expected to see the net ripple after creating so many favorable opportunities.
Despite Kelly’s heroics, the volume of chances proved too great to keep the game within a single goal. After being foiled by the keeper on breakaways, crosses, one-on-ones, and headers, Minneapolis widened the scoreline with the penultimate kick of the first half. Jabateh, who had asked questions of Minnesota’s backline all half with his strength and eye for a quick shot, picked up the ball 40 yards out and broke towards the net.
From the top of the penalty arc, Jabateh unleashed a strike that turned Kelly into a spectator as it found the bottom corner. His second of the season would prove to be the game winner, the second Super Cup match in which Jabateh netted the decisive goal.
“Honestly, I think that’s the biggest point. We had so many more shots these two games than throughout the season,” Tophoven said. “I think that really helped us being able to score more goals, and being very effective on top.”
A dominant first-half was a fitting show for the Crows’ largest home crowd of the season, drawn by the local opposition and good weather. Going into halftime, the characteristic drumming, chanting, and colorful flags and flares of the Citizens were on full display.
“Oh my gosh, I love our fans,” Lamarre said after the full-time whistle. “It’s awesome, you know, I have a lot of my U-9 boys that I coach that came to the game, they’re always asking me for advice and everything. Having them there to play in front of them and everything is such a great feeling.”
Though United made halftime changes, both Citizens and Crows kept their energy high in the second period. Seven minutes after the restart, a long throw-in from Curtis Wagner found its way to the back post via a flicked header. A patient Tophoven waited as the ball dropped onto his foot, before bouncing a half-volley over Kelly’s stretching arms and into a three-goal lead.
“It was a pity that I had to miss so many games throughout the season, would’ve loved to take part of it,” Tophoven said. An injury had kept the German forward out for much of the 2024 campaign, but the Tophoven has returned with two goals in two games. “It’s great just to be back on the field with the boys and contributing to the wins.”
Tophoven wasn’t satisfied with just one goal contribution, though. In the 65th minute, he slid a clever pass through United’s backline for his strike partner Goldman to run onto. Undeterred by Kelly’s interventions on a number of his first-half efforts, Goldman made his next chance count. The ball was in the back of the net before the keeper could react.
After a tiring match spent mostly on the back foot, the Lil’ Loons deserved credit for fighting onwards despite the lopsided scoreline. Dominick Vargas sent a close shot over Evan Siefken’s crossbar a few minutes after Goldman’s double, and John Farris found the far corner for a consolation goal four minutes into second-half stoppage time.
Though Farris’ finish brought a thin silver lining to United fans in attendance, by the time he scored, City had already extended their lead to five. Seconds into extra time, Lamarre flicked a pass over his marker towards the wide-open Goldman, who didn’t wait for the ball to land before lashing his third of the night past Kelly.
Goldman’s haul made him the first Crow to score two hat-tricks (after his trio of goals in a 5-3 loss to RKC Third Coast last May), and moved him to within two of Will Kidd’s 19-goal career tally, City’s all-time leader.
“Eli Goldman finishing with three today was awesome,” Oliver credited his forward. “He’s one of our catalysts going forward.”
The Minneapolitan cake would have been iced even more sweetly had any more of the Crows’ 20 total shots managed to find the net, but 5-1 was a plenty decadent scoreline. The last time City managed such a large result was a 5-1 victory over La Crosse Aris on June 18, 2022.
“I was so happy with the performance today,” Oliver said. “We’ve been knocking on the door, and today, we just kind of kicked through it.”
“One thing about this group that I love is that it doesn’t matter if we have two or three games left, we’re gonna finish it through,” Steevie Lamarre said, emphasizing the importance of the commanding victory. “We’re gonna keep on playing, even if things don’t go our way. We’re gonna play until the last minute, so to get the result we got tonight, I’m happy.”
“It just boosts the morale a little bit more for the end of the season. We obviously want to finish out good, and now with the opportunity to win a trophy at the end of the season, that would be amazing,” said Tophoven.
The final hurdle between City and the Super Cup trophy is fellow League Two side St. Croix Legends, an opponent not unfamiliar for Oliver.
“I’m excited for it. It’s funny, cause again, that’s a club that I got love for. I played for it from 14 and on, I still coach youth soccer there, my twin brother is the head coach of the team, so it is going to be a bunch of interesting dynamics,” the head coach smiled. “I’ve been joking with the guys like, ‘Man, if you guys love me at all, I know you guys will help us get 3 points or win a trophy over them so I got some bragging rights over him.’”
Before the Oliver vs. Oliver championship can take place in late July, two more regular-season games must be played, including a final league match against St. Croix. With athletes beginning to leave Minneapolis and return to their collegiate teams, City will have to rely on their depth to find results.
“It’s a next-man-up mentality,” Oliver said of the remaining few matches. “We’ve had different people step up into bigger opportunities. Even in our last game, we had three Futures players travel with us to round out the roster. People know that if you are available, you are committed, you are bought in, at some point you will have that opportunity.”
“Right now, the whole team is focused on the next game, the final against the Legends,” Lamarre said. “We’re gonna win it. We’re gonna win it. That’s what we’re gonna do differently this year, we’re gonna win it.”
