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Meet the Minnesota high school girls soccer 2025 preseason Dream Team

The list of 22 players includes Gophers commits, defending state champions and multisport standouts.

The girls soccer Dream Team includes, clockwise from top, Stillwater goalkeeper Reese Elzen, Holy Angels midfielder Ellen Neuharth and Edina midfielder Mikaela Caverly. Elzen is committed to Wisconsin, Neuharth to the Gophers. Caverly is uncommitted. (Minnesota Star Tribune file)
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By Cassidy Hettesheimer

The Minnesota Star Tribune

Plenty of recent Minnesota girls soccer alumni are tearing it up in colleges and the pros. Someone on this girls soccer preseason team might be the next.

But first, there’s a fall season of high school soccer to play.

Narrowing down three size classifications of talented players into one Dream Team is a tall task, with a limitless number of players to keep an eye on this fall. From schools large and small, spanning from Duluth to Eyota, we gathered a roster of 22 — enough to field two sides of a must-see matchup.

Mikaela Caverly

Edina, junior, midfielder

Caverly has been an impact player for the Hornets since winning a Class 3A state title as a freshman. Last year she tallied a team-high 11 assists, plus 13 goals, as Edina finished as state runner-up.

Lauren Craig

Wayzata, junior, forward

Craig is a major creative force for reigning Class 3A state champ Wayzata. Last fall, she led the Trojans with 23 assists and scored 14 goals of her own.

Jayda Davis

Dover-Eyota, senior, defender

Davis, an all-state center back, brings a strong aerial game and a knack for scoring headers to an Eagles back line that posted seven shutouts last year.

Livi Downs

Mankato West, senior, forward

Though she’ll tear it up on the hardwood in college, don’t let Downs sneak behind the defense or she’ll add to the 29 goals she scored last season for West. College: South Dakota (basketball)

Reese Elzen

Stillwater, senior, goalkeeper

The dynamic, quick-reacting shot stopper is coming into the fall with Northern Lakes Goalkeeper of the Year honors from her Women’s Premier Soccer League summer season. College: Wisconsin

Brooke Goerish

Spring Lake Park, senior, goalkeeper

Standing 6-0, the Panthers’ all-state keeper stopped 91.2% of the shots she faced last season and led Spring Lake Park to a top-10 ranking in Class 3A. College: Colorado

Maddyn Greenway

Providence Academy, senior, forward

Greenway was named last year’s Star Tribune All-Minnesota Female Athlete of the Year for her prowess in basketball, track and soccer. The dynamic forward scored 42 goals — second-most in the state — en route to the Lions’ first Class 1A state title. College: Kentucky (basketball)

Olivia Halunen

Woodbury, senior, defender

Halunen is a lockdown one-on-one defender who helped the Royals to 11 shutouts in 15 games last season and scored four goals of her own. College: South Dakota

Audrina Hess, right, is a versatile player for Holy Angels. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Audrina Hess

Holy Angels, senior, defender

Hess can play anywhere on the back line for the Stars: center back, outside back or center mid. Her seven goals last season were a bonus. College: Valparaiso

Addy Judson

Holy Angels, senior, defender

The physically dominant center back reads the game well in anchoring a Stars back line that conceded only six goals last fall. The three-time all-state defender is also a weapon on set pieces. College: Ole Miss

Izzy Kapanke

St. Croix Lutheran, senior, forward

She’s a quick center back for her club team but is versatile enough to play forward for the Crusaders — and to excel at it, too, scoring 32 times last fall. College: Iowa State

Lilly Kuettel

Duluth East, junior, forward

With a speedy press slicing gaps in opponents’ back lines, Kuettel netted 32 goals last season and helped Duluth East reach state for the first time since 2010.

Emma Kvant

St. Michael-Albertville, senior, forward

Kvant spent the spring winning Class 3A state titles in the 200 and 400 meters, and now she’ll put her blazing speed to use on the soccer field to add to the 29 goals she scored as a junior.

Rylee Lawrence

Stillwater, senior, forward

Lawrence’s high soccer IQ creates opportunities for herself and her teammates, to the tune of 16 goals and 11 assists last fall. College: North Dakota

Bella Naples

Chanhassen, senior, midfielder

There’s no angle too tough or distance too far for Naples to score from. She racked up 27 goals, more than two-thirds of Chanhassen’s scoring, last fall. College: Minnesota

Ellen Neuharth

Holy Angels, senior, midfielder

The reigning Tri-Metro Conference Player of the Year comes up in the clutch, scoring a brace in state runner-up Holy Angels’ Class 2A semifinal — just two of her 24 goals last season. College: Minnesota

Eagan defender Ana Oenning, right, found her way to the Class 3A semifinals last season and soon will arrive at St. Thomas for college. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Ana Oenning

Eagan, senior, defender

Oenning is a technical outside back who passes crisply for a Wildcats squad that reached the Class 3A state semifinals last year. College: St. Thomas

Ashlyn O’Malley

Rogers, senior, forward

O’Malley is another player who can play defense or up top, scoring 19 times and logging 13 assists for the Royals. College: Southern Utah

Kate Payton

Minneapolis Southwest, senior, forward

Payton’s team-high 15 assists and nine goals often helped tie or win close games for the Lakers last fall, earning her an all-state nod. College: South Dakota.

Taylor Schilling

Mankato East, senior, forward

Schilling scored most of her 27 goals as the season picked up steam, gaining momentum to help the Cougars reach the Class 2A state semifinals.

Maddie Shillings

East Ridge, junior, midfielder

Shillings missed her sophomore year because of a knee injury, but she’s back and already has two all-state honors to her name as an eighth- and ninth-grader. This July, her club team won a Swedish international youth tournament, with Shillings as the finals MVP.

Wayzata defender Carolyn Voss (2) challenges for the ball during the Class 3A semifinals last season. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Carolyn Voss

Wayzata, sophomore, defender

Voss, an outside back, earned all-tournament honors for the Class 3A state champions as a freshman, helping the Trojans concede just three goals in six postseason games.

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About the Author

Cassidy Hettesheimer

Sports reporter

Cassidy Hettesheimer is a high school sports reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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