Two years ago, Pella’s boys soccer team finished their season with an incredible seven minute flurry to grab state glory.

The Little Dutch scored twice to come from behind in the final minutes against Storm Lake in the Class 2A title game on June 2nd, 2018.

A senior heavy lineup led by 2018 Iowa High School Soccer Player of the Year Ethan Poulter and his 37 goals, as well as a defense anchored by 1st team All-State defenders Lucas Warner and Joe Bacon, the latter of which was named the All-Tournament team captain.

After a week of tense matchups with Perry and Xavier to advance to the finals, Pella came back in the final six and a half minutes to take down Storm Lake 3-2, scoring twice before the end of regulation.

Ben Nelson found the back of the net with his foot, after a great one-on-one play by Ian Vasina set up the score with 6:13 remaining.

The Dutch used that momentum to keep the pressure on the Tornadoes, and Soren Stetler hit the clinching header with 1:28 left on the game clock.

Stelter said after the game he was in the right place at the right time.

“I saw [the ball] just go up — I don’t know what really happened before that, but I saw it in the air, and I was like ‘it was worth a shot,’” he recalls. “And I’ll I heard was the crowd screaming, I didn’t even look in the goal–I just knew it went in and the rest is just history. It’s unreal.”

Stelter, Poulter, Sam Warner, and Bacon were named to the All-Tournament team, with Bacon selected as captain. The 2020 state soccer tournament finals would have been today in Des Moines.