The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Soccer team played hard for long intervals, but Detroit Lakes had a pair of goals scored late in both the first and second halves which helped the Lakers solidify a 6-0 win on Tuesday afternoon at the Crookston High School soccer fields.
FIRST HALF –
The last time Crookston played Detroit Lakes, the Lakers had scored three goals in the first 10 minutes. This time, the game was scoreless through the first 12 minutes. But at the 12:39 mark, Detroit Lakes scored their first goal with an unassisted shot from senior Austin Miller. Just over 20 minutes later, senior Parker Davis snuck a goal between the legs of Crookston keeper Kaleb Thingelstad. About six minutes after that, junior Hunter Zempel put a shot top shelf in the net with just over a minute left before halftime, giving the Lakers a 3-0 lead at the break. “I think we started the game pretty well,” Crookston head coach Lon Boike said. “We were playing well, but we were out of position a couple of times. One ball went right between our goalie’s legs. So, that was frustrating. It could have easily been a 1-1 game (at halftime), because Noah Kiel had a nice shot-on-goal the other end. If that went in, it could have been a little different outcome wise. I thought we played really well 95 percent of the game. We just made mistakes, and they got some goals. We just have to clean that up. That’s been a problem for us several times this year. They took advantage of our mistakes.”
SECOND HALF –
Detroit Lakes set the tone for the rest of the game when senior Austin Miller scored his second goal of the game just two minutes into the second half. After another 21 minutes of scoreless play, the Lakers tacked on two more goals within 4.5 minutes of each other. Senior Lucas Schwan had one, while junior Luther Van Offelen had the other. Van Offelen’s goal was the result of a penalty kick after a penalty was called on Crookston keeper Caden Boike. Boike picked up the ball in the goalie box, thinking it was last touched by a defender. Turns out, the ball was last touched by teammate Noah Dragseth. When a goalie dives on a ball and makes a save on a ball last touched by his own teammate, it results in a penalty. “Caden thought Detroit Lakes had touched the ball last,” Boike explained. “That’s why he picked it up, but the officials said Noah Dragseth kicked it back to Caden, so that was a miscommunication and just one of those things. We didn’t react very well to it, either. They were quick to get the kick off and get the goal.”
Detroit Lakes was busy offensively with a total of 17 shots-on-goal, while Crookston had just three shots-on-goal. They were all in the first half.
Crookston falls to 1-5 on the season and will host Fargo North on Saturday at Noon. You can hear the game with the RiverView Health pre-game show at 11:30 a.m. Detroit Lakes, who have now won five of their last six games, improve to 5-2 overall.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Detroit Lakes | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scoring:
12:39 – DL – Austin Miller
33:03 – DL – Parker Davis
38:57 – DL – Hunter Zempel
42:00 – DL – Austin Miller
63:08 – DL – Lucas Schwan (Braeden Wimmer)
67:42 – DL – Luther Van Offelen (penalty kick)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | Total |
| Kaleb Thingelstad – Crox | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| Caden Boike – Crox | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Braeden Wimmer – DL | 3 | 0 | 3 |
