It some respects the goal has already been reached, but in other ways it remains 80 minutes away.

When the Aberdeen Central girls’ soccer team lost in the semifinals of the AA soccer playoffs a year ago, the Golden Eagles set a goal of getting past that hurdle and playing for a state championship. That objective was accomplished earlier this week when Central blanked Sioux Falls Lincoln in the semifinals.

“There’s one game especially for our seniors. They only have one game to play. All the pressure is kind of off now,” said Central coach Merle Aske. “They got to where they wanted to be. Now, it’s just a matter of trying to relax and play a little bit and see what happens.”

The Golden Eagles (13-1-1) will meet top-seeded Harrisburg (15-1-1) at 1 this afternoon in Tea in the championship contest. Central defeated the Tigers at Brownell Activities Complex 2-0 earlier this season.

While Central won the previous matchup, on paper the teams appear pretty even and both are capable of producing multiple goals while shutting down opponents.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty even game back and forth both ways. They’re pretty similar to us,” Aske said. “Basically its going to come down to the team that’s going to have the ability to put more pressure on and get the ball in the front of the net where they’re going to have the opportunity to put it in. That first goal is going to be pretty important, too, to just get things going.”

The Golden Eagles have had little trouble scoring, racking up six goals in their most recent outing. The squad is lead by junior Deshani Peters who has 22 goals this season. Fellow junior Kailyn Poppen is second in goals with 11 and leads the squad in assists with 17. Senior Taryn Hettich is a catalyst with her speed and scored the team’s first two goals against Lincoln.

Aske said it’s one thing to have speed, it’s another thing to know how to maximize it.

“There’s other teams that have a lot of speed, but our girls have a pretty good understanding and have finally gotten in a really good rhythm of knowing when to play the ball and getting that ball in the right position, so that when we play the ball the defense is maybe going the wrong way so our speed will take advantage of that,” Aske said. “The biggest thing is if you can get the defense going the wrong way when you play the ball in, and you get your speed turned in behind, it’s much harder for them to catch up even when they have team speed.”

While Central has a potent offense, it is the team’s defense that has set the tone the entire season. The Golden Eagles have recorded shutouts in six of their last seven games. The back row has done a stellar job of keeping opposing possessions out of Central’s end of the pitch.

That defense shutdown a potent Harrisburg offense in the previous meeting.

“We basically set up an away just to make sure they didn’t get any clean looks. We know that they have a couple of players that are going to shoot from the outside and they also have a couple of players that they try to get in behind teams,” Aske said. “So if we can keep them from getting outside looks and keep those other players from getting in behind us and playing with their speed then we fare pretty well. The biggest thing is making sure our defense knows when to drop and when to hold up.”

It’s no coincidence that the defense stepped up a notch when goalie Ciara Frank returned from an illness and joined the starting lineup about midseason. Aske said that freshman Taylor Thorstenson did a solid job in her stint as a starter and that the back line also has a job to keep the ball away from the Aberdeen goal. However, once it gets there, opponents have had a difficult time finding the back of the net against Frank, who has recorded 89 saves in nine starts this season.

“Ciara is really athletic,” Aske said. “She’s a good goalkeeper and she does a good job of doing things the right way.”

Central, which fell to Yankton in the 2019 state title contest, won back-to-back state championships in 2011 and 2012.

Aske said the key is for his players to play relaxed and not try to do too much.

While the Golden Eagles have already reached one goal by being in the title game, they have the ultimate goal sitting right in front of them.

“That’s the thing we talk about every year. This is our goal, is just to find a way to get in the championship game,” Aske said, before adding, “We’ll bring home a trophy one way or the other, but we have a chance to bring home that big trophy, so that’s what we’re going to be gunning for.”