CROOKSTON BOYS’ SOCCER SHUTOUT IN LOSS TO DETROIT LAKES

The Crookston Pirates Boys’ Soccer team dropped their third straight game to open the season falling 2-0 to Detroit Lakes in a Section 8A matchup played at the Rotary Soccer Field Complex in Detroit Lakes.
Detroit Lakes scored the match-winning goal just 15:55 into the match when Cole Metelak slotted a feed from Kale Omang past Crookston goalkeeper Ben Andringa giving the Lakers a 1-0 lead. “It was a defensive mistake,” said Crookston head coach Don Cox of the first goal, “they got in behind our defender and the line, instead being a flat line it was kind of at a right angle along the right side and their guy got down and in behind and our right side defender was down in deep to keep their guy on side, my left side guy was chasing and couldn’t catch the cross so they were able to get the shot off just out of Ben’s (Andringa) reach.” The Lakers added a second goal just before halftime when Kobe Braukmann converted from the penalty spot to give Detroit Lakes a 2-0 lead at halftime. “Our defender was coming across in the box,” explained Cox, “it looked like they were running side by side, we tried to step in front to get the ball and their guy stepped on my guy and any time you do that in the box the referee is going to give them  a PK.”
Crookston acclimated well in the second half as the Pirates held their hosts scoreless for the final forty minutes after making a goalkeeper switch to Casey Tiedemann, who made five second-half saves for the shutout. “I didn’t use my starting line-up, I mixed things up,” said Cox explaining the changes in the second half. “I moved people around and told them I’m not going to put people who are used to playing a position in the same positions, so I’m not letting them get comfortable in any certain position. We still did not have a good possession game tonight, so we didn’t do a lot of passing, but we moved around a lot more and broke up their possession a lot. It got physical in the second half, they knocked us around and then accused my guys of playing hockey instead of soccer, which I thought was hilarious.” Crookston failed to convert their physical second half play into a goal, falling 2-0 after being shutout in their second straight game. “I think we have to focus, we have to take practice a lot more seriously than we’ve been doing,” noted Cox. “They have to focus on the net and start hitting it from whatever position I put them in and they have to do passes. When we’re not making passes, we’re not setting up combinations and when we’re not setting up combinations, then we’re not pulling defenders away from the net and trying to shoot through them rather than around them.”
The Pirates fall to 0-3 this season and return to the pitch on Thursday traveling to Fergus Falls to take on Fergus Falls Hillcrest at 4 p.m. Detroit Lakes improves to 2-3.

Scoring
15:55 – Detroit Lakes – Cole Metelak (Kale Omang)
37:10 – Detroit Lakes – Kobe Braukmann (PK)