The Crookston Pirates Girls’ Soccer team lost 4-1 to the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks in a non-section match played at the Crookston High School Soccer Field.
Kylee Meier played well in net for Crookston in the first half recording eleven saves, after the Thunderhawks got off to a quick start. In the opening minute of the match, Ellie Tillma beat Meier to give Grand Rapids a 1-0 lead. The Pirates battled until late in the half when the visitors added two more goals. Krisalyn Seelye scored in the 28thminute to give Grand Rapids a 2-0 lead. Just before halftime, Lucia Wyland scored the Thunderhawks third goal giving Grand Rapids a 3-0 lead after forty minutes of play.
Grand Rapids started the second half where they left off in the first with Natalee Bushman scoring the Thunderhawks first goal giving the visitors a 4-0 lead. The Pirates managed to score their second goal of the season late in the second-half when Ny Nhu Nguyen passed the ball right across the goal to Mackenze Epema cutting the deficit to 4-1. “Excitingly we had Kenze Epema up at forward and we also had Ny (Nhu Nguyen) who’s one of our new girls to soccer, she’s in seventh grade, but has pretty good footwork,” Crookston head coach Sarah Reese explained. “Ny and Kenze were at the right place at the right time and Ny took a nice little shot and Kenze had a finesse shot, we call it, right place, right time, not too hard, right angle and she put the ball in the net.” Grand Rapids managed to close out the final five minutes of the game to secure the 4-1 victory. “We just need to harness the power and put it all together,” explained Reese. “There’s a lot of hope and it’s exciting to see their skills progressing.”
The Pirates fall to 0-6-1 this season and return to the field for two games on Saturday in Melrose beginning with Cold Spring Rocori at 10 a.m. before taking on Melrose at 1 p.m. Grand Rapids improves to 2-5.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Grand Rapids | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Scoring
1:00 – GR – Ellie Tilma
28:00 – GR – Krisalyn Seelye
36:00 – GR – Lucia Wyland
42:00 – GR – Natalee Bushman
75:00 – CROX – Mackenze Epema (Ny Nhu Nguyen)
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | Total |
| Brittney Kostek – Grand Rapids | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Kylee Meier – Crookston | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| Cassie Solheim – Crookston | 0 | 6 | 6 |
