The Crookston Pirate Girls Soccer team played a great first half, but the East Grand Forks Green Wave exploded for five goals in the second half and cruised to a 6-0 victory in a Section 8A matchup played in East Grand Forks. Crookston was outshot 37-0 in the game.
FIRST HALF –
Crookston’s game plan was to come out in a more defensive formation, which worked for the first 15 minutes. Coach Sarah Reese told her players to play one minute at a time, and they took that to heart and played hard in the first half. Despite being peppered with shots, Reese Swanson was up to the task and made 17 saves in the first half.
East Grand Forks would get on the board in the 15th minute with a goal from Skyla Rustad. After that, Crookston continued to clamp down on defense. Mckayla Tahran and Mady Knutson led the way on defense and helped Crookston keep the Green Wave off the board for the rest of the half.
SECOND HALF –
Despite the great effort from the Pirates in the first half, East Grand Forks began to break through in the second half. Camryn Adams scored a minute into the half and added another goal nine minutes later for a 3-0 lead.
Crookston continued to run out of steam, as the deep East Grand Forks team stayed fresh with substitutions throughout the game, allowing them to wear down Crookston. Jill Frost would score a goal in the 52nd minute, and Sophia Lukach would achieve two goals of her own to make it 6-0.
Crookston did have a player make their varsity debut. Lilli Bridgeford got her first bit of soccer action in the game and was up to the task. She played with tenacity and even played a new position. Crookston hopes that giving experience to players like Bridgeford will make them even better in the future.
Reese Swanson continued to play well in the second half, racking up an additional 20 saves in the second half to make a total of 37 on the day. East Grand Forks’ Shali Anderson did not have to make a save tonight, and the Green Wave cruised through the rest of the second half towards a 6-0 win.
Crookston falls to 2-3-1 on the year and hosts Pelican Rapids on Thursday. East Grand Forks improves to 5-1-1.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Crookston | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East Grand Forks | 1 | 5 | 6 |
Scoring –
15:00-EGF- Skyla Rustad
41:00-EGF- Camryn Adams
50:00-EGF- Camryn Adams
52:00-EGF- Jill Frost
55:00-EGF- Sophia Lukach
59:00-EGF- Sophia Lukach
| SAVES | 1 | 2 | Final |
| Reese Swanson – Crox | 17 | 20 | 37 |
| Shali Anderson – EGF | 0 | 0 | 0 |
