The Crookston Pirates Girls’ Soccer team dropped their second straight match against one of the best teams in the Section falling 9-0 against the East Grand Forks Green Wave in a Section 8A matchup played at the East Grand Forks Soccer Field.
East Grand Forks scored early and often in their convincing victory over Crookston. The Green Wave’s Brynn Hillman netted the first EGF goal just 4:30 into the match. At the nine-minute mark, Kora Jordheim scored the Green Wave’s second goal before Brynn Hillman added a third East Grand Forks goal giving the host’s a 3-0 lead just fifteen minutes into the match. The Green Wave scored their final goal of the first half when Brooklyn Sayler put a shot past Crookston goalkeeper Kylee Meier giving East Grand Forks a 4-0 lead at halftime. Despite the difficult first half, Crookston head coach Sarah Reese remained pleased with her team’s performance over the opening forty minutes of the match. “Much of the play was in the middle,” Reese explained. “During the last twenty minutes of the first half and last ten minutes of the game we played excellently.”
In the second half, the Green Wave continued dominating possession and pressuring the Pirates’ back line. In the 48th minute, Kora Jordheim scored her second goal of the match giving East Grand Forks a 5-0 lead. Eight minutes later, Chloe Torgerson added another goal to the Green Wave’s now 6-0 advantage. The lead grew to 7-0 ten minutes later when Macy Skyberg scored. One minute later Brynn Hillman completed her hattrick with a goal that increased EGF’s lead to 8-0. The Green Wave added their final goal in the 69th minute on a Grace Kronlund shot that finalized the East Grand Forks 9-0 victory. Crookston was limited to just one shot on goal in the loss. The Green Wave utilized a unique playing formation that made things difficult for Crookston according to their head coach, “they played three attackers. They were fast and had great possession and that was difficult for us. They were on and couldn’t miss.”
While the final result was not what the Pirates had hoped for, Reese was proud of her team’s performance, “I’m proud of the girls for not giving up and playing with confidence.”
The Pirates fall to 0-4-1 this season and return to the pitch on Friday when Crookston hosts Grand Rapids at 5 p.m. East Grand Forks improves to 4-1.
1st 2nd Final
Crookston 0 0 0
East Grand Forks 5 4 9
Scoring
4:30 – EGF – Brynn Hillman
9:00 – EGF – Kora Jordheim
15:00 – EGF – Brynn Hillman
21:00 – EGF – Brooklyn Sayler
48:00- EGF – Kora Jordheim
56:00 – EGF – Chloe Torgerson
66:00 – EGF – Macy Skyberg
67:00 – EGF – Brynn Hillman
69:00 – EGF – Grace Kronlund
SAVES 1st 2nd Total
Kylee Meier – Crookston 9 7 16
Tabitha Anderson – EGF 0 1 1
