The Crookston Pirate Girls Soccer team traveled down to Fergus Falls on Thursday afternoon for a battle against the Hillcrest Lutheran Academy Comets in the first round of the Section 8A Tournament. The two teams split their two matchups in the regular season setting up a great first-round matchup. The two teams played scoreless into overtime where the Comets were finally able to score, winning the match 1-0 and ending the Pirates season. “Obviously a loss like this hurts. We wanted to get it done tonight but just came up short,” said Pirates coach Sarah Reese. “Both teams were evenly matched and that showed since the majority of the game was played in the middle third.”
FIRST HALF –
Crookston had a couple of good chances in the first five minutes with Cassie Solheim getting a few shots on the net, but the Comets were up for the task of stopping both. The Comets would also have a couple of nice opportunities shortly after that, but Reese Swanson would make a couple of nice saves to keep the match tied. The first half continued like that for the full 40 minutes but neither team would find the scoreboard and we would head into the halftime break tied at 0-0. The Pirates had three corner kick opportunities in the first 40 minutes while the Comets had just one.
SECOND HALF –
The Second Half was very similar to the first with both teams getting plenty of opportunities. Reese Swanson was excellent in net for Crookston and made save after save to keep the Comets off the scoreboard. Crookston would get a couple of more Corner Kick opportunities in the half but none of them would lead to the goal. The best chance of the half came for the Comets on a shot from the right side of the box that sailed over Swanson and hit the top of the crossbar and deflected over the net. “Overall I was really proud of our defense in this match,” said coach Reese. “We did a great job and so many of our girls stepped up when they needed to and got stuff done on that end of the field today.” Hillcrest Academy would apply pressure in the final 10 minutes but it wouldn’t lead to anything, and the two teams would head into sudden death over time.
OVERTIME –
In the first ten minutes of overtime, neither team could scratch across a goal, and Reese Swanson made a couple of nice saves to keep the game alive. The two teams then switched ends of the field for one last 10-minute overtime session before Penalty Kicks if neither team could score. It took only 16 seconds after the two teams switched ends of the field for the Comets to score on a bouncing ball in the box, winning the match 1-0 and ending the Pirates season. “At the end of the day they were able to sneak one in on us and that truly was the difference,” said coach Reese. “I would expect our goalie Reese to come out of the net and go after the ball as she did there, we just didn’t get the right bounce. She did exactly what she was supposed to do and overall had an unbelievable match.”
Crookston finishes their season with a final record of 4-9-3. “I reminded our girls after the game we don’t want to feel like this again next year, and we want to be on the other side of this,” said coach Reese. I am extremely proud of our season and the effort that was given. Very appreciative of our seniors and all the work they put in. I’m really excited for next year and the group will bring back. It’s up to them to be the new leaders and step into that role.” Hillcrest Lutheran Academy improves to 6-9 and will take on Fergus Falls on Saturday in the Section 8A semifinals.
1st 2nd OT Final
CROOKSTON 0 0 0 0
Hillcrest Academy 0 0 1 1
SCORING –
90:14 – Hillcrest – Marie Elise Oy
SAVES 1st 2nd OT Final
Reese Swanson – Crox 5 6 1 12
Hannah Radzwill – HA 2 1 0 3
