The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Soccer squad continues to play great soccer and cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Pelican Rapids Vikings in a Section 8A matchup played at the Crookston High School Soccer Field.
FIRST HALF –
Crookston had a strong first half and even though they didn’t get a lot of shots on goal, the ones they took were high quality. “We were working hard, but a lot of the play was in the center part of the field,” said Pirate Coach Sarah Reese. “Things kind of clicked and we connected the dots and things got going.”
Just shy of six minutes into the game, Crookston scored their first goal when Kenze Epema scored after a nice pass from Clara Meyer for a 1-0 lead. “Clara had a nice through ball and Kenze kept it at her feet,” said Coach Reese. “Kenze kicked the ball hard and low on the ground and it went in there.”
Less than 15 minutes later, Clara Meyer’s shot hit the crossbar and bounced in front of the net and Keona Arnold kicked it in the net to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead halfway through the half. “Clara had a ball from the outside and her shot hit the crossbar and went off the goalie’s hands,” said Reese. “Keona was right there and tapped it in with a nice finesse shot.” Less than five minutes after the second goal, Olivia Huck lobbed a pass up the field and Cassie Solheim used her outstanding speed to blow my the Pelican Rapids defenders for a breakaway and scored the third Pirate goal of the half for a commanding 3-0 lead. “Olivia put a ball where she skipped the line right up to Cassie’s feet,” said Coach Reese. “Cassie kicked the ball into the center of the net for the goal.” Crookston took a 3-0 lead they took into halftime. “We switched up the defense a little bit and Riley Solheim, JoJo and Dillynn Wallace played outstanding defense for us,” said Coach Reese. “The girls worked well together and we played a very good first half.”
SECOND HALF –
Crookston started the second half where they left off when they scored just over two minutes into the half. Olivia Huck and Kenze Epema teamed up for a beautiful goal and Crookston took a 4-0 lead. “I told the girls our goal was to score a goal in the first two or three minutes and they took care of that,” said Coach Reese with a smile (under the facemask). “Kenze made it happen and had a pass from Olivia and it was an outstanding pass and great shot.” Both teams had some scoring chances over the next 14 minutes play, but it was Crookston’s Clara Meyer’s passing led to another goal when Maddie Harbott was able to find the back of the net to give the Pirates a 5-0 lead. “Clara has had the best passing this year and she was right on the money all game today,” said Coach Reese. “Maddie took the pass and tapped it in for the goal on a nice play.”
Pelican Rapids put a lot of pressure on the Pirates in the final 10 minutes of the game and they were able to score with eight minutes left in the game. “That last goal, we were getting tired. Reese (Swanson) did a great job for us and came out like she should have, but the Pelican Rapids player made a nice play and scored,” said Coach Reese.
Crookston held on to win the game 5-1.
Crookston improves to 2-2 on the year and has only given up five goals in four games. The Pirates will travel to Detroit Lakes on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Pelican Rapids drops to 1-2 on the year.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Pelican Rapids | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| CROOKSTON | 3 | 2 | 5 |
Scoring:
5:48 – Crox – Kenze Epema (Clara Meyer)
20:44 – Crox – Keona Arnold (Clara Meyer)
25:30 – Crox – Cassie Solheim (Olivia Huck)
42:14 – Crox – Kenze Epema (Olivia Huck)
57:55 – Crox – Maddie Harbott (Clara Meyer)
71:59 – PR – Tatianna Wiley
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | Total |
| Reese Swanson – Crox | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| Grace Haugrud – PR | 2 | 6 | 8 |
