sports

CROOKSTON BOYS SOCCER BEATS EGF IN SECTION PLAY-IN GAME

October 10, 2023

The Crookston Pirate Boys Soccer used a Brannon Tangquist goal late to beat the East Grand Forks Green Wave 1-0 in a Section 8A Boys Soccer tournament play-in game played at the Crookston High School Soccer Field.

FIRST HALF –
The first five minutes saw even play. East Grand Forks got the first scoring chance with a corner kick in the sixth minute, but Melsa saved it. Crookston began to dominate possession seven minutes in. Lucas Miller had two shots, but one was saved, and the other was high. In the 11th minute, Reggie Winjum had a shot, but a defender blocked it. Crookston got back-to-back corner kicks, but neither of them resulted in shots. Caden Boike had two shots in the 12th and 13th minute, but one was saved, and the other went high.
East Grand Forks got a free kick in the 15th minute, but Melsa saved it. The Green Wave got another free kick two minutes later, and Melsa kept it again. Crookston got a free kick one minute later, resulting in a corner kick for Crookston. Brannon Tangquist got a shot off on the corner kick, but it was saved. Crookston got another corner kick one minute later, but it was saved again. The following five minutes saw even play. Crookston got another chance with a corner kick in the 30th minute, and Jackson Reese took a shot from near midfield, but it was saved. Miller got another shot on goal that snuck past the keeper, but it was barely wide. East Grand Forks and Crookston traded shots in the 35th minute before Jackson Reese got a yellow card. Melsa saved the ensuing free kick from East Grand Forks. The last few minutes of the half saw even play, and the teams went into the half with the game tied at 0-0.

SECOND HALF –
The half started with Crookston having early possession. Winjum had a shot on goal, but it went wide. East Grand Forks had a shot one minute later, but it bounced off the crossbar and was saved by Melsa. The Green Wave continued to pressure the Crookston with a shot in the 45th and 46th minutes, but both shots went wide. Crookston got five straight corner kicks two minutes later, but none resulted in a shot. In the 51st minute, Jack Everett had two shots, but they were both saved. East Grand Forks had a corner kick in the 54th minute but didn’t get a shot off. Crookston got two penalty kicks a minute later, but neither resulted in a shot.
From the 56th to the 61st minute, the game saw even play. East Grand Forks had a shot on goal in the 62nd minute, but Melsa saved it. Crookston got a chance a minute later with a free kick, but they could not get a shot off. In the 67th minute, Crookston began to dominate possession. Crookston had a corner kick, but it went out. Crookston had another corner kick a minute later, and Tangquist had shot, but it went wide. The Pirates got a free kick 30 seconds later, but it was saved. Crookston continued to pressure the East Grand Forks net as Caden Boike had a shot in the 70th minute, but it was saved. About one minute later, Tanguist received a through pass from Jack Buhler. He took the shot and buried it in the far side of the goal to put Crookston ahead 1-0.
Crookston continued to dominate possession for the next four minutes. Lucas Miller got a yellow card in the 73rd minute, but the play still resulted in a free kick for Crookston. Matthew Contreras took the free kick and put it on the net, but it was saved. East Grand Forks started to put pressure on the goal. In the 76th minute, they got a shot on goal, and Melsa made a tremendous leaping effort to knock the ball away, and Crookston cleared it shortly after. The last four minutes saw even play. East Grand Forks brought it into the Crookston side of the field several times, but the Pirates cleared it every time, and Crookston held on to win the game by a score of 1-0.

Crookston improves to 6-7-2 and heads to Fergus Falls to take on Hillcrest Lutheran Academy in the Section 8A Quarterfinals on Thursday. East Grand Forks finished their season 3-12.

FOR COACH BOIKE, BRANNON TANGQUIST, AND BLAKE MELSA’S COMMENTS CLICK BELOW.