Hamza Abdi made the most of a couple fortuitous bounces.

Abdi scored two goals to double his season total and unseeded Como Park hung on to upset No. 3 New Ulm 3-1 in a Class 2A boys soccer quarterfinal Wednesday at Farmington High School.

Winners of five straight and eight of nine, the Cougars (14-5-1) next play at 2:30 Tuesday in U.S. Bank Stadium against the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between No. 2 seed Simley and unseeded Delano.

Como Park is in the tournament for the sixth time, but first since five straight from 2012-16, including a 2013 title.

“We’re not only trying to do best for us, but for St. Paul,” Abdi said.

With the Cougars holding a 2-1 lead, Abdi scored his second goal of the game with 5:48 remaining. A free kick by Stephen N’da went off a Cougar near the far post and right to Abdi, who scored from about 7 yards out.

“It was like right time, I was there, I just hit the ball twice,” he said of his goals.

Not quite four minutes into the second half, N’da controlled ball for the Cougars on the right wing just inside the New Ulm box. His centering attempt went off a defender and right to Abdi, whose quick left-footed shot found the back of the net.

“Since he came back from injury (N’da) is the best player we have, the best player in our conference, the best player in my eyes. He was a game-changer today,” Abdi said.

Off a corner kick, Pah Chi scored on a header in the 55th minute to make it 2-0.

The Cougars cushion was short-lived however because Levi Johnson scored for the Eagles (15-3-2) less than three minutes later by splitting a couple defenders at the top of the box, poking the ball past the goalie before pushing the ball across the line.

In a game that, at times, felt more like a track meet with both teams speedily getting down the pitch with the ball, it was Como Park with the better first-half scoring opportunities. Abdi had the best chance for the Cougars but was robbed on a diving save by New Ulm goaltender Austin Krohn.

Related Articles

Boys soccer: Mounds Park Academy falls in Class A quarterfinal

Girls tennis: Rochester Mayo earns third straight state title over Minnetonka

High School Football Roundup: Ward scores twice as Apple Valley beats Burnsville

High school girls soccer: Second-half surge lifts Stillwater over Duluth East

Girls tennis roundup: Mounds View reaches Class 3A semifinals

NEWARK, N.J. – Ask anyone what is fun about a visit to northern New Jersey, and they’re more than likely going to draw a blank.

The same goes for the Minnesota Wild, who found little to enjoy in their lone visit to the den of the Devils this season.

Off to the hottest start in the NHL this season, New Jersey scored in each period and shut down the Wild’s suddenly struggling power play, winning 4-1 on Wednesday and handing Minnesota its fourth loss in the past five games.

Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson kept it close but lacked offensive support, making 32 saves as he fell to 2-4-0 this season.

The Wild’s rare highlight came just past the midway point of the third, with Minnesota trailing by three, when Matt Boldy wired a long-range shot just under the crossbar to spoil New Jersey’s shutout bid. It was the fifth goal of the season for Boldy, tying him for the team lead with Kirill Kaprizov.

Minnesota fell to 3-4-1 overall, while the Devils are now 6-1-0.

It was mostly a defensive battle for the Wild in the early part of the game. They killed a Devils power play in the opening three minutes, and got some puck luck as well. New Jersey center Dawson Mercer had a wide open net to shoot at, with Gustavsson down after making a save, but Mercer’s shot deflected off the shaft of Marco Rossi’s stick and over the net.

Gustavsson stopped the first 13 shots sent his way before New Jersey winger Paul Cotter got his first goal of the season, slipping a low shot between the goalie’s knees, following Connor Brown’s set-up pass from below the goal line. Minnesota was outshot 14-7 in the opening 20 minutes.

The goalie was again tested early in the middle frame when Wild captain Jared Spurgeon was stripped of the puck at the blue line, springing New Jersey star Jack Hughes on a breakaway. But Gustavsson made a pad save to squelch the scoring opportunity.

The reprieve was temporary, as the Devils doubled the lead before the period’s midway point when defenseman Brenden Dillon sent a puck in from the blue line and it fooled the goalie over his left shoulder.

Minnesota’s power play — which was the league’s best after four games this season but has notably cooled off lately — got an opportunity later in the second. New Jersey’s penalty killers, who have been the NHL’s best this season, were having none of it, negating the man advantage without allowing a shot on goal. The Wild’s second power play produced shots, but no goals as they headed to the second intermission down 2-0.

And when Minnesota took a third-period penalty, the Devils’ power play needed just three seconds to make it a three-goal lead, as Arseny Gritsyuk scored the first of his career with a wrist shot immediately following the faceoff to the right of Gustavsson.

Jesper Bratt added an empty-net goal for New Jersey, which makes its lone visit to Minnesota this season on Monday, Jan. 12.

It was the final night of a five-game road trip — their second-longest of the season — in which the Wild went 1-3-1. With Devils mainstay goalie Jacob Markstrom sidelined due to a lower body injury, third-stringer Nico Daws made his first start of the season for New Jersey, stopping 29 shots.

Following their extended road trip, the Wild return to Grand Casino Arena for a six-game homestand, beginning on Saturday when they host the Utah Mammoth with a 5 p.m. CT opening faceoff.

Briefly

The Devils’ broadcast team on MSG Network for Wednesday night included Minnesota native Rachel Herzog and retired goaltender Cory Schneider, who was very familiar to Wild fans a decade or so ago. Herzog was a standout defender at Hill-Murray and at St. Cloud State, where she studied broadcasting before joining the New Jersey TV team a year ago. Schneider, who hung up the pads in 2023 after more than 400 NHL games, was the backup for the Vancouver Canucks in the early 2010s. Vancouver starter Roberto Luongo often struggled in games versus the Wild in St. Paul, meaning that Schneider would commonly enter in the second period after Luongo was yanked. Before Wednesday’s game, Schneider joked that the Canucks eventually just named him the starter in road games versus the Wild.

Related Articles

Under John Hynes, Wild pointing North to the future

All smiles, and reflection, for Danila Yurov after first NHL goal

Wild get back in New York groove, beat Rangers

Wild center Marco Rossi sidelined for first time in two years

Veteran forward Tyler Pitlick savors debut with hometown Wild

Gophers women’s basketball forward Mallory Heyer announced Wednesday she plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

The Chaska native was on the verge of beginning her senior season at Minnesota on Nov. 4 but will leave the program instead.

“Thank you Minnesota for the past 3 years,” Heyer wrote on X. “I am forever grateful for the opportunity to represent my home state and wear Minnesota across my chest. Thank you to everyone who supported me along the way.

“For personal reasons, I will be closing this chapter of my career at Minnesota and entering the transfer portal to find a new home as a graduate transfer. God’s Plan!”

Heyer started all 36 games last season, leading the team with 8.1 rebounds per game and contributing 8.6 points.

Related Articles

Gophers women’s basketball: Class of 2022 has big plans for 2026

Women’s basketball: Gophers back with confidence as high as expectations

Gophers volleyball loses libero to knee injury

Gophers nab top girls hoops recruit in Nebraska

Natalie Kussow, No. 26 prospect, commits to Gophers women’s basketball

Mounds Park Academy was peaking at the right time entering the state boys soccer tournament.

Scoring just 21 goals in its 15 regular-season games, the Panthers scored 11 times in winning three straight section games, including Masen Donohoo’s overtime winner in a victory over St. Croix Prep in the final.

However, the good vibes came to an end Wednesday in a 2-1 double-overtime loss to No. 2 Stewartville in a Class 1A quarterfinal at Farmington High School.

A failed clear led to Cole Kropp scoring with 5:03 remaining in the second extra period, sending the Tigers (20-0-0) to a semifinal match at 7 p.m. Tuesday in U.S. Bank Stadium. They’ll play the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between No. 3 St. Cloud Cathedral and unseeded Cristo Rey Jesuit.

“I was really hoping to end it right then and there. I’m confident with our team with (penalty kicks), but you just want to get it over with as soon as possible,” Kropp said.

Wiktor Sroka nearly won it for the unseeded Panthers (7-8-4) in the first overtime but was robbed on a diving save by Stewartville goaltender Brecken Rester.

“I thought that was the game,” Mounds Park Academy coach Mike Velin said.

“It was great shot, but a better save. That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day,” Kropp said.

Undoubtedly, the loss will sting for a while, but Velin is proud of what the Panthers showed.

“The public outside of our team looked at our record, our goals-against differential and would think what are they doing in state,” he said. “If that was the only thing people looked at, they’d be missing the story of who we are, how we build up. … At the end of the day, what we talked about was don’t peak on the first game, but peak in sections. We were really starting to show who we were and what we could be.”

Leyton Hudson scored midway through the first half for Mounds Park Academy, who was in the tournament for the first time since 2010.

Sroka sprinted down the right side and sent a pass to the box where Hudson’s redirect from about 10 yards out found the back of the net in the 19th minute.

The Panthers gave up the first goal in their last two section games.

“Previous teams would get very dejected, and this team found resilience, they found a way to understand it’s an 80-minute game, there’s a lot of opportunities and you never give up,” Velin said. “For the seniors, the heart they showed is going to carry through with them for the rest of their lives.”

Ranked No. 6 in the final state soccer poll, Stewartville has allowed just 10 goals this season, no more than one in a game.

Cody Clark scored early in the second half for Stewartville, who scored at least two goals in every match this season.

Rester made a diving save less than a minute later, and Owen Johnston — Mounds Park Academy’s goaltender — snared a Clark shot about two minutes thereafter to keep the game 1-1. Johnston added a big save against Kropp, a 29-goal scorer, about 10 minutes later.

Related Articles

Girls tennis: Rochester Mayo earns third straight state title over Minnetonka

High School Football Roundup: Ward scores twice as Apple Valley beats Burnsville

High school girls soccer: Second-half surge lifts Stillwater over Duluth East

Girls tennis roundup: Mounds View reaches Class 3A semifinals

High school girls soccer: Mahtomedi posts 3-0 win over Grand Rapids