The Crookston Pirates Girls’ Soccer scored in the fifth minute of the match before falling 2-1 against Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in a Section 8A match played at the Crookston High School Soccer Field.
The Pirates jumped out to an early lead in the fifth minute of the match when Mackenze Epema scored on a shot across goal that hit the far post before trickling across the goal line giving Crookston a 1-0 lead. “Kenze scored about five minutes in,” explained Crookston head coach Sarah Reese. “Their defense is very much a nucleus that works through the middle of the field along with their center-mids and they do that quite well. They kind of cluster in the middle, so I told our players we’ve got to work it far outside and then cross it towards the middle and that’s where the open seams are going to be. Kenze did just that and was rewarded for being at the right place at the right time and having a poised shot. I was really excited to see that.” Late in the first half, the Wolves tied the match after earning a penalty kick. Walker-Hackesnsack-Akeley’s goalkeeper Alexa Kennedy took the shot and found the lower left corner with her shot tying the score at 1-1 heading into halftime.
In the second half, the Wolves took the lead in the 70thminute when Abigail Zismer trickled a shot past Reese Swanson giving Walker-Hackensack-Akeley a 2-0 lead. “We had lots of opportunities to put the ball in the net,” said Reese. “Certainly, we scored first, which was awesome and helped us build some momentum and some confidence, but when we had Brinna Egeland’s injury and their (penalty kick) we lost a little steam and we certainly lost a sense of urgency. Then we played more passively, and it was quite clear we had about a twenty-minute period where we played on our heels and were very reactive. We weren’t able to physically and mentally overcome those obstacles and regain that sense of urgency and really we didn’t regain that until the final fifteen minutes of the game and in between that period they put another goal in the net. It was just a bit too little too late and we were making it too difficult for ourselves. We had some shooting opportunities, we had the opportunities to put the ball in the net and unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that. We’re not upset about it, but it is disappointing because we know they have it in them.”
The Pirates fall to 1-13-1 this season and return to the field on Thursday when Crookston hosts Walker-Hackensack-Akeley at 3:30 p.m. Crookston wraps up its regular season Monday when they host Fergus Falls at 4 p.m. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley improves to 1-10-1.
|
1st |
2nd | Final | |
| Walker-H-Akeley | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| CROOKSTON | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Scoring
5:00 – Crookston – Mackenze Epema
38:00 – WHA – Alexa Kennedy (PK)
70:00 – WHA – Abigail Zismer
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | Total |
| Reese Swanson – Crookston | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Alexa Kennedy – W-H-A | 4 | 5 | 9 |
Tags:
