ST. CHARLES — Jenny LaRue is a believer.

The belief is in her No. 3-seeded La Crescent-Hokah girls soccer team.

The Lancers gave their coach one more reason to swear by this current crew, turning in a dominant first half and then doing enough after intermission to emerge a 2-1 Section 1, Class 1A girls semifinal winner over No. 2 St. Charles/Lewiston-Altura on Monday night.

Next up for the Lancers is the daunting task of taking on No. 1 seed and No. 7 ranked Winona Cotter at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Dover-Eyota.

Cotter is 17-1-0 overall after beating No. 4 seed Dover-Eyota 3-1 in Monday’s other semifinal. La Crescent-Hokah is 12-5-1.

The Ramblers average a whopping five goals per game while giving up a minuscule 0.8.

LaRue will go in believing anyway.

“I just really believe in this team,” LaRue said after watching her Lancers score once in each half, the first by Ayane Cox off a Kiera Timm corner kick assist, the second unassisted by Timm, a sophomore who now has 26 goals and was named to the All-State team.

“Our team has really bonded on and off the field, and that matters so much,” LaRue continued. “And they have that mental toughness.”

Monday marked the third time La Crescent-Hokah and St. Charles/L-A met this season, the Saints winning the first one 2-0, the Lancers the second 3-2.

Whenever her team plays the Saints, LaRue is concerned. She knows all about their rich history of winning, and she says they play the right way.

“St. Charles has such a high soccer IQ,” LaRue said. “Taige (Puetz) does a great job coaching them.”

It’s a mutual admiration society when it comes to these two coaches. Puetz also has deep respect for LaRue and sees a certain advantage in a girls team being coached by a female.

“This game was a slugfest, as I knew it would be,” Puetz said. “We respect them a lot. These are two class-act programs. And I think it is important for girls to have a strong female coach. Jenny LaRue does a great job with them.”

It sure helps La Crescent-Hokah that it has Timm, though she diverts much of the credit for her success to her teammates.

“I am just in a good position on offense,” said Timm, who also has another big scorer next to her in fellow sophomore Anna Wood. “I give my teammates a lot of credit for what I’ve been able to do. It felt like tonight we chased down every ball.”

The Lancers made things especially tough on the Saints in the first half. St. Charles/L-A goalie Aspyn Gust was kept extremely busy. The sophomore faced seven shots in the first half, saving six of them. By contrast, the Saints managed just two first-half shots on All-State goalie Ella Gates.

Things started to even out after intermission. A big burst of confidence went St. Charles/L-A’s way with 23:09 left in the game. That’s when Saints freshman Camersyn Gust headed in a shot off an Addison Overkamp assist.

Just like that, the game was tied at 1-all.

But the Saints’ jubilation was short-lived. Just 26 seconds after Carmersyn Gust scored, Timm ripped away St. Charles/L-A’s good feelings by scoring unassisted. That gave her 26 goals on the year, to go with 13 assists.

Now, it’s time to see if Timm and the Lancers can pull something similar off against Winona Cotter. The teams have already met twice this season, and both games were close. Cotter took the first one 2-1 on Sept. 17, then won 3-1 on Oct. 6.

Cotter’s lone loss this season was Sept. 19, 6-3 to Providence Academy.

Providence Academy, which graduated superstar athlete Maddyn Greenway last spring, is ranked fourth in state Class 1A. Ahead of them are No. 1 Southwest Christian, No. 2 Esko and No. 3 Watertown-Mayer.

Also ahead of Cotter are Breck and Holy Family. St. Cloud Cathedral, St. Croix Prep and East Grand Forks round out the top 10.

La Crescent-Hokah 2, St. Charles/Lewiston-Altura 1

La Crescent-Hokah #1#1#—#2
St. Charles-Lewiston-Altura #0#1#—1
La Crescent-Hokah: Ayane Cox 1 goal; Kiera Timm 1 goal, 1 assist. Goalie: Ella Gates 5 saves
St. Charles/Lewiston-Altura: Camersyn Gust 1 goal, Addison Overkamp 1 assist. Goalie: Aspyn Gust 12 saves.