Grand Rapids Girls’ Soccer Bests Hermantown to Make 1st Ever Trip to State Tourney

Grand Rapids baseball has made the state tournament an MSHSL-record 23 times. In complete contrast, before this year, Thunderhawks girls’ soccer had never made a state tournament appearance.

But after wins over Hibbing/Chisholm and Duluth Denfeld in the section quarter and semifinals, the Thunderhawks were on the precipice of making program history. 3-seed Grand Rapids was hosting 5-seed Hermantown in the Section 7AA championship on Tuesday.

The game was scoreless going into overtime, but in the 89th minute, senior forward Kylie Debay played hero for the Thunderhawks to end the stalemate, giving Grand Rapids a 1-0 overtime victory and their first ever trip to the Class AA state tournament.

“Honestly, I don’t even remember,” Debay said of how she found the back of the net. “I just crashed the goalie and then kicked it in. Just from there, I was just super excited.”

“I stick to my near post, I always watch my near post because that’s what my goalie coach tells me to do,” said senior goalie Rylee Major. “I was very excited. I knew we could do it from the start. I came into this game knowing that we were going to win—we got it.”

Grand Rapids now advances to the Class AA quarterfinal and will play on either October 21, 22, or 23, with times coming out later once seeding is announced. The semifinal and final rounds will be at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on October 29 and 31, respectively.