Friday night at Allianz Field two schools representing St. Paul Public Schools and the St. Paul City Conference took the pitch to play the Saint Paul Cup. Each season two schools from SPPS participate in the match at Allianz Field, allowing high school players in the capital city to play at the city and state's premier soccer venue.
Boys Match
Washington 1 – 1 Johnson
Both Washington and Johnson have struggled in conference play this season. The Washington Eagles were 1-2-3 (W-D-L) entering Friday night while the Johnson Governors entered at 1-1-4.
Washington struck early with a 9th minute goal off a free kick. #8 Hero Xiong took a free kick, that was volleyed towards goal by #2 Selemani Abwe, and finished inside the six by #10 Djuma Omar. The Eagles held the lead for nearly the entire remainder of the match. But with time running out Johnson spoiled a win for the Washington Eagles boys.
Thirty seconds remaining in the match and it looked all but certain that Washington would win the opener. A low cross from Johnson was knocked out of play by the Eagles, giving the Governors a corner kick with less than 30 seconds to play. #8 Adoni Lopez Salvador played a short corner to #10 Braylon Chang, who was left undefended and whipped a shot into the far corner of the goal, from just inside the box to force a draw.
Washington Eagles and Johnson Governors will now prepare for the Section 4AA tournament, with the winner of the tournament earning a spot in the Class AA State Tournament.
Girls Match
Washington 7 – 0 Johnson
Just as with the boys match the two teams in the girls match have also struggled in the conference, both being in the bottom half. Washington with a 2-1-5 record in the St. Paul City Conference and Johnson at 1-0-5 coming into Friday.
The Eagles started the match off on the front foot and stayed their for the whole match. They forced much of the play into their offensive third and just five minutes in Washington got their first real chance, though the shot clanged the crossbar. It took just under 20 minutes for Washington to get on the board, with #12 Poe Eh Hser sending a cross to #14, who got around a defender and beat the keeper to open the scoring.
Washington took a while to find the back of the net, but did three more time before the end of the half. With a 4–0 lead in their hands heading into the second half, Washington tacked on three more goals to smash Johnson in their final regular season match.
Now the two schools will prepare for the Section 4A playoffs, with the tournament winner earning a spot in the 2026 MSHSL State Tournament.
Coming Up
Content to Look For
- Saint Paul Cup Photo Gallery | Monday
- Photos from the 2026 Saint Paul Cup boys and girls matches
- Section Tournament Semis Preview | Wednesday
- Section by section looks ahead of each of the Section Semi-Finals and Finals
- Section Tournament Recap | After 22 Oct
- Section by Section breakdown of the final two rounds of the section tournaments.
- State Tournament Preview | Ahead of 27 Oct
- Team by team look in each class at the 2026 State tournament participants
- State Finals Preview | 6 Nov
- Match by match preview of the 2026 MSHSL State Championship Finals
