CROOKSTON GIRL’S SOCCER HAS BIG DAY WITH FIRST WIN AT WALKER

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Soccer team won their first game of the season behind a hattrick from Cassie Solheim beating the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Wolves 6-0 in a Section 8A matchup played in Walker. 

Crookston’s offense wasted little time setting the tone with a penalty kick struck into the net by Makenze Epema nine minutes into the match. “At nine minutes (Walker-Hackensack-Akeley) had a handball (within their 18-yard box)” explained Crookston head coach Sarah Reese. “Kenze (Epema) took a penalty kick and put it just to the left of the goalie and put it right in. The great thing about penalty kicks is its not about wham,  bam, slamming it, its about having the right placement and accuracy and she did that.” One minute later, Cassie Solheim scored her first goal of the match, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. “Cassie Solheim shot the ball at the goalie,” said Reese. “The goalie popped it out, and Cassie followed her shot and basically gave herself an assist and got the goal at the ten-minute mark. We were 2-0 at ten minutes in, and we were feeling good.” Cassie Solheim scored her second goal of the day in the eighteenth minute off an assist from Kylee Meier. “Cassie (Solheim) got a pass from Kylee (Meier), a nice through ball and Cassie has such great poise with the ball under pressure,” noted Reese. “She was on the right side of the goal, and she put the ball in the net.” Solheim completed her hattrick in the 28th minute with a goal set up by Anke Wiersma putting the Pirates ahead 4-0. “Anke (Wiersma) was on the right-hand side,” said Reese. “Anke gave (Cassie Solheim) a cross on the ground from about thirty yards out and again Cassie just took a couple of dribbles. Had a nice shot and put it past the goalie. She has such poise with the ball, and it really showed today.” Crookston’s lead grew to 5-0 after Keona Arnold scored off a pass from Anke Wiersma in the 32nd minute. “We had Keona Arnold playing up at that forward position and Anke did pretty much a similar ball to what she had just done in terms of getting a cross kind of on the ground and it was just kind of about being in the right place at the right time and putting the ball in the net and that’s what (Keona Arnold) did.”

In the second half, Keona Arnold closed the Pirates’ scoring account with her second goal fed from Olivia Huck in the 61st minute making it 6-0. “Keona Arnold got a pass from Olivia (Huck),” explained Reese. “Olivia plays in our defense, and she had a great ball that could’ve potentially went in. Keona was there to help it in. Crookston’s goalkeeper Reese Swanson wasn’t tested often but stopped all three shots she faced in the match to earn the shutout in a 6-0 victory. “It was a great day for Pirate soccer,” summarized Reese. “They had a good warmup, and before the game, they had a team huddle and talked about wanting to play as a team and get the job done as a team, and they certainly did that. While they didn’t have many shots, they had a couple of good runners, so while Reese (Swanson) didn’t face a lot of shots. She did have a lot of time with her hands on the ball, having to make decisions with time and space. It was really exciting in the first and the second half because we got lots of players in off the bench. A lot of girls got to see playing time, and that was fun to give girls a flavor of varsity soccer and for them to be able to contribute. It was an exciting win for Pirate soccer, and we’re hoping this leads into next week. We want to keep that momentum going as we transition into a difficult week against highly competitive teams.

Crookston improves to 1-5. The Pirates return to the pitch on Monday when Crookston travels to Bemidji to take on the Lumberjacks kicking off at 5:00 P.M. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley falls to 0-4.

Scoring
9:00 – CROX – Makenze Epema (PK)
10:00 – CROX – Cassie Solheim
17:00 – CROX – Cassie Solheim (Kylee Meier)
27:00 – CROX – Cassie Solheim (Anke Wiersma)
31:00 – CROX – Keona Arnold (Anke Wiersma)
60:00 – CROX – Keona Arnold (Olivia Huck)