Crookston Girls Soccer drops tough home contest to St. John’s Prep

The Crookston Pirate Girls’ Soccer team played a very solid defensive game, only allowing eight shots on goal, but were unable to find the net themselves as they fell to the St. John’s Prep Johnnies by a score of 2-0 at KROX Radio Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

FIRST HALF –
The game started after an hour and five-minute rain delay, and to start the offense was very slow paced, with the ball staying in the middle of the field for the first few minutes. After that, the Johnnies got in an offensive rhythm, and put a lot of pressure on the Pirate defense with four corner kicks in the first fifteen minutes of play. However, as has been the case throughout the year, the Pirates did not let any of these set pieces find twine. The Pirates then had one chance halfway through the period that was saved, and that seemed to light a fire in the offense. The passing was cleaner, and the runs off the line were faster. Unfortunately, the only look the Pirates got was in the final minute of the half, where Kira Daniels chipped one from near the corner that nearly beat Maya Buemer, but she used great reflexes to make the save and keep the game scoreless after a half of play.

SECOND HALF –
In the second half, the Johnnies increased their intensity on offense, giving themselves a few more opportunities. Kambree Wangen made saves on the first few balls in front of her, but a long-range shot from Claudia Ruzanik somehow found a way under Wangen’s hands, and that put St. John’s up 1-0 with 26 minutes to play. From there, the Johnnies kept complete control; they prevented the Pirates from getting a shot on goal in the half, and Lauren Lenzmeier scored with 13 seconds left to put a nail in the coffin, giving the Johnnies a 2-0 victory.

Crookston drops to 0-4 on the season, and St. John’s improves to 1-2.