Two Harbors Soccer Season Stopped Short by Esko

Although the end-of-sea­son record was not what new head coach Zach Vieau had hoped for, it’s not a true reflection of the potential and resilience of the Two Harbors Agates Girls Soc­cer team. The season began on a high note, but after three players suffered sea­son-ending injuries, it be­came harder for the team to maintain momentum.

“We were just kind of hitting our stride. Esko is the number one team in the section, and when we played, they only beat us 1-0. Hermantown beat us by one, and they are one of the best AA schools in sec­tion 7AA,” said Vieau. “If you can make it through the season healthy, then it goes very well, and if you don’t, it kind of starts falling off pretty quick.”

The team secured victo­ries against both Princeton and Hibbing and tied with Duluth Denfeld early in the season. However, when the injuries hit, the Agates faced the added challenge of a small roster. Compet­ing for 90 minutes without substitutes can put a signifi­cant strain on players.

“That’s the disappoint­ing part. They were doing so well before those three girls got hurt,” said Vieau. Despite these setbacks, the team’s determination never wavered.

According to their coach, “The good thing is they never show up defeated to a game. We’ve had games where we’ve shown up in­jured, or people were sick, or people were gone, or completely outmatched, and they’re all 100% ready to go the whole time.”

Their commitment wasn’t limited to the official sea­son. Most of the girls at­tended optional daily practices throughout the summer, a testament to their dedication. Vieau, who also runs a training program for athletes from 6th grade through college, said many of the soccer players use this time to build strength and skills.

“Starting last year, that was kind of one of my big things when I came in,” he explained. “Just giving them more options of what they can do over the sum­mer.”

The team also trains through the Two Harbors Soccer Club (THSC) during the summer. “Ashleigh Swanson does a wonderful job running practices and getting them into tourna­ments,” Vieau said, praising the club’s president.

This was Vieau’s first season as head coach after coaching the girls Storm hockey team for several years.

“At the beginning of the year, it was a learning curve more for me than the play­ers,” he said, admitting it had been a while since he last played soccer before taking on the role. “Trying to remember the drills to do, and how to run a good prac­tice. And how to coach in a game. It’s so much different than coaching hockey.”

One thing that wasn’t so different from hockey was having familiar faces on the team.

“The expectations com­ing into the year were good because I knew most of the girls still,” he said. “The reason I wanted to coach is because the kids are won­derful. The girls who I had who were wonderful during hockey were also continu­ing to be wonderful in soc­cer.”

Getting to know the girls he hadn’t coached before was equally rewarding. “I was excited going into the year, but I didn’t real­ly know how it could go. And it went fantastic,” he said. “I’ve had so much fun working with this group of girls.”

A standout this season was sophomore Reagan Ho­genson, who earned a cap­tain role mid-season.

“She stays after every single game to make sure everything is cleaned up. She’ll stay after the varsity games for the JV and help. A few weeks ago, we had people get hurt, and she jumped in as the goalie in the JV game and jumped in as a player in the JV game,” said Vieau. “She has done absolutely everything that we would ask a captain to do.”

Hogenson will contin­ue as a captain next season and will likely maintain this role through the remainder of her high school soccer career.

Vieau also expressed grat­itude for the team’s other captains, Savannah Lund­gren and Lizzy Aug, as well as for assistant coach Carl Freund.

“He has been so helpful and so great,” Vieau said. “Especially joining a new program with a new sport, having somebody like him to coach with who is just as positive as I am. He’s fun to coach with, but if there’s something that’s needed… he’s so helpful. He’s so awesome to coach with. And we’re lucky to have him.”

When I spoke with Vieau, he was preparing to trav­el to Esko with the Agates to play in the first round of playoffs. Though they were up against the number one team, he remained optimis­tic and sees a promising fu­ture for the program.

“I don’t know if I’ve had higher hopes going into an offseason than I do right now. The potential the girls have, that they started to click, the young girls that we have coming up, and the numbers we have coming up—I think the next few years are going to be really, really fun.”

Unfortunately, during the game against Esko, more players were injured. Elev­en eighth and ninth graders took the field against Esko’s varsity team.

“Girls gave it a good ef­fort but ultimately came up short. Great building sea­son for next year. Going to miss the leadership of Lizzy and Savannah but very high hopes for a very successful year in 2025!” said Vieau.

Congratulations to the Ag­ates for their efforts amidst the challenges during this season! We have no doubt of the successes the next year will bring for the team!