CROOKSTON BOY’S SOCCER DROPS SEASON OPENER AGAINST JAMESTOWN DESPITE LATE SURGE

The Crookston Pirates Boys’ Soccer team opened their season in North Dakota falling to the Jamestown Blue Jays by a score of 3-2 in a non-section game played in Jamestown.

The Pirates appeared destined for a rough opening scoreline after conceding three goals in the first half. Jamestown opened the scoring in the 7^thminute when Jaden Christ converted from the penalty spot to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. The Blue Jays doubled their scoring tally just eight minutes later when Matthew Morin found the net giving Jamestown a 2-0 advantage. The lead grew to 3-0 before half-time after Chase Jenison found Bobjoe Sumo who struck a shot past Crookston goalkeeper Ben Andringa to hand Crookston a 3-0 deficit at half-time. 

The Pirates proved resilient in the second half and threatened to equalize the match late. Mason LaPlante scored the first goal of the season after Crookston earned a penalty kick 76:20 into the game after Sam Overgaard was fouled in the penalty area. “Sam Overgaard had the ball within the box and the keeper came out and was trying to play it, but he missed it and they had defenders that came in behind Sam and tripped him so that gave us the penalty kick which Mason took, and he put it in for us,” explained Crookston head coach Don Cox.

LaPlante once again found the net just over a minute later to bring the Pirates within one goal of a late draw according to Cox, “(LaPlante) got a pass from DeLorme and he scored the second for us. They did a combination run down the right side. (LaPlante) passed it to (DeLorme) and he passed it back and he managed to get a shot past the keeper to get the second goal for us. After that Jamestown went into delaying tactics to keep the ball away from us and killed the last roughly two minutes.”

Although not the end result Crookston hoped for, from its opening game, there was reason for encouragement according to Cox especially considering the limited roster available for the game, “We did really well. I’ve got twenty players on the roster, but unfortunately, I only had fourteen players eligible to play and one of the was injured and one was late due to college classes so for most of the first half I only had two subs. So for having to play pretty much the entire game with eleven guys, they did a pretty decent job.”

The Pirates fall to 0-1 this season and return to the pitch on Tuesday when they host fellow Section 8A Pelican Rapids at 4 p.m. Jamestown improves to 1-3.

Scoring
Jamestown: Jaden Christ (PK) –7:00
Jamestown: Matthew Morin – 15:30
Jamestown: Bobjoe Sumo, assist Chase Jenison – 29:53
Crookston: Mason LaPlante (PK) – 76:20
Crookston: Mason LaPlante, assist Eric DeLorme – 77:31