sports

CROOKSTON GIRLS SOCCER GETS BACK ON TRACK WITH OT WIN AT MESABI EAST

October 2, 2021

The Crookston Pirates bounced back from a loss the day before to beat Mesabi East, a cooperative of Aurora-Hoyt Lake and Biwabik, in overtime by a 1-0 score in a game played in Biwabik on Saturday. “It was a great team effort to get the win today,” said Pirates Head Coach Sarah Reese.

Crookston was more aggressive in this game allowing them to create more offense and play on their attacking side third of the field to constantly put pressure on the Mesabi East defense. “Compared to yesterday, we were much better on the 50/50 balls and we won the majority of them today. “We took those balls out of the air and that set the tone for the game.” explained Coach Reese. “Clara Meyer and Miryah Epema did great at winning the balls in the air, and then distributing the ball or getting shots.” Despite that aggressive approach and good playmaking up top after winning those 50/50 balls Crookston still was unable to find the back of the net. “Kailee Magsam and Cassie Solheim continued to do a nice job at the forward spot of playmaking today,” added Coach Reese.
The defensive battled continued through the first half and into the second half with neither team capitalizing on any of their solid chances at goal. Although a lot of the game was played in Crookston’s offensive zone, the Pirate defense still had to make plays and stops and they did. “We had great team defense,” said Coach Reese. “We applied ball pressure to disrupt their play and we covered a lot of space as a group.”
After 80 minutes of play, the two sides were still scoreless so they went to overtime. In the overtime period, Maddie Harbott was putting continuous pressure on the Mesabi East defense from the outside midfield position. “Maddie was making great run after run at the end of the second half but especially later in the overtime period,” explained Coach Reese. The pressure eventually led to a corner kick for the Pirates and they took advantage. Olivia Huck scored the corner kick at the 87 minute mark to give the Pirates a 1-0 victory.

Crookston jumps their record back above the .500 mark at 7-6-1. They will host East Grand Forks on Monday in their last regular-season game of the season.
Mesabi East drops to 1-8 this season.