The Crookston Pirate Girls Soccer team trailed by a goal three times in the game only to tie it up each time and played to a 3-3 overtime tie with the Pelican Rapids Vikings in a Section 8A matchup played in Crookston. “It was an exciting game,” said Assistant Coach Anna Brekken, filling in for Head Coach Sarah Reese who had a work-related conflict. “We don’t always want it to be that exciting, but the girls played with heart and they made some great plays.”
FIRST HALF –
Crookston dominated the first half and actually outshot the Vikings 17-3 in the half. Even though the Pirates were dominating play they weren’t getting a lot of quality shots. Crookston continued to put pressure on Pelican Rapids, but it was the Vikings that scored first when Sadie Funk scored a goal with eight minutes left in the first half for a 1-0 lead.
Crookston didn’t quit and answered in a big way when Cassie Solheim, the Pirates leading scorer, sped past the defenders and scored to tie the game at 1-1 with six minutes left in the half. “That was a big goal because we had some great scoring opportunities and we couldn’t connect,” said Coach Brekken. “Cassie was faster than their defenders and she used her speed and scored a big goal for us.”
SECOND HALF –
Crookston continued to dominate play in the second half, but didn’t have anything to show for it as the score remained tied at 1-1 halfway through the half. The scoring drought looked like it was over with 18 minutes left in regulation when Cassie Solheim had the ball all alone after blowing by the Viking defenders and kicked a rocket towards the net and it hammered the left corner of the upright and crossbar and the score remained tied at 1-1.
Pelican Rapids, after not having a scoring opportunity in the half, had a breakaway and scored over two minutes later on a nice Sadie Funk kick for her second goal giving Pelican Rapids a 2-1 lead with over 15 minutes left in the game.
Crookston continued to play hard and took control of the game and had another scoring chance, but a kick sailed wide left. A few minutes later, Cassie Solheim was knocked down in front of the net and Crookston received a free kick from a yard outside of the box. Keona Arnold took the free kick and placed a perfect shot over the goalie’s head and Crookston tied the game at 2-2 with over five minutes left in regulation. “Keona is such a skilled player and has great touch,” said Coach Brekken. “When you are 18 yards out you need a little touch and she has such finesse and she put it in the upper 90 and there isn’t a goalie that could stop that kick.”
There were 40 seconds left in regulation and it looked like Pelican Rapids was going to score after a Viking kick was deflected and another player caught up with the ball and looked to have an open net. Crookston’s Arnold came flying out of nowhere and kicked the scoring attempt away out of bounds and the game was still tied and that is how regulation ended, forcing overtime. “We told the girls to calm down and just play our game in overtime,” said Coach Brekken.
OVERTIME –
Neither team scored in the first five minutes of overtime forcing goalies to switch nets for the second five minutes. The second five minutes of overtime was a rollercoaster of emotions for both teams and fans. Pelican Rapids crashed the net after a kick on goal and the ball popped loose after a collision and a Viking player kicked the loose ball off the left post and into the net for a 3-2 lead with 3:11 left in the game. “That could have been a deflating moment for us,” said Coach Brekken. “The girls kept playing hard and that was great to see.” Things didn’t look good for Crookston, but as they did all game long, they found a way to answer. Cassie Solheim got a pass on the far side of the field and sped past the defender and got a kick off and it went past the goalie to tie the game at 3-3 with 43 seconds left in the game. “We wanted Cassie to stay high because she was faster than their defenders,” said Coach Brekken. “She has that burst of speed and didn’t have a great angle and was able to get enough power on the kick to get it past the goalie.”
Nobody scored in the final seconds and Crookston and Pelican Rapids played to a 3-3 tie.
Crookston improves to 2-3-2 on the year and will take on Melrose on Saturday.
| 1st | 2nd | OT | Final | |
| Pelican Rapids | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Scoring
32:00 – PR – Sadie Funk
34:00 – Crox – Cassie Solheim
64:23 – PR – Sadie Funk
74:36 – Crox – Keona Arnold (FK)
86:49 – PR – Anahi Garcia
89:17 – Crox – Cassie Solheim
| SAVES | 1 | 2 | OT | Total |
| Tessa Weber – Crox | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Pelican Rapids | 16 | 5 | 5 | 26 |
