Bemidji Ends Pirate Girls Soccer Season

The Crookston Pirates Girls’ Soccer team was held scoreless in a season-ending 10-0 loss against the Bemidji Lumberjacks in a Section 8A first-round playoff game played at Chet Anderson Stadium in Bemidji.
Bemidji wasted little time showing while they were the top seed in the section scoring in the 5th minute when Lindsey Hildenbran put a shot past Crookston goalkeeper Reese Swanson of an assist from Katie Alto giving the Lumberjacks a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later Susan Ritter doubled the hosts lead after taking a pass from Elizabeth Corradi which Ritter deposited in the back of the net to take a 2-0 lead. In the 19^thminute the lead grew to 3-0 after Lindsey Hildenbran scored her second goal of the half. Bemidji added a fourth goal before halftime when Hallie Solien received an assist from Alexis Paquette and scored giving the Lumberjacks a 4-0 lead after the opening 40 minutes of play. Crookston struggled to compete with Bemidji’s skill and more importantly the Lumberjacks’ depth according to Pirates’ head coach Sarah Reese, “for a variety of health and family reasons we only had two subs, which made it difficult when (Bemidji) was subbing five or six at a time.”
In the second half, Bemidji continued to add to their lead as Harper Toward scored five minutes past halftime giving the hosts a 5-0 lead. In the 57^thminute, Alexis Paquette scored on a freekick pushing the Lumberjacks lead to 6-0. In the 66^thminute Hailey Nelson received a pass from Paquette leading to her first goal of the night growing the lead to 7-0. In the final 10 minutes, Bemidji continued to pepper Crookston’s Reese Swanson with shots. In the 73^rdminute Paquette scored her second goal of the match giving the Lumberjacks an 8-0 lead. The lead grew to 9-0 in the 78^thminute after Jenna Jones scored off of Hailey Nelson’s second-straight assist. In the final minute, Bemidji added one final goal to close out the victory as Hallie Solien scored following a feed from Katie Alto to close out the Lumberjacks 10-0 win over the Pirates. “We held our own for most of the game, but (Bemidji) attacked the net and were great passers and aggressive to shoot,” summarized Reese.
Reese Swanson did her best to try and keep the match close in net making 15 saves in the first half and 13 more saves in the second half for Crookston, while the Pirates’ offense failed to generate a shot on net in the loss. “Reese was really busy in the goal as you can see by all the saves,” noted Reese.
Crookston graduates four seniors from this year’s team and they will be missed as Hailey Spivey, Elise Erdmann, Hannah Emanuel, and Jessica Willits all completed their final match for the Pirates. “It was a sad day for our seniors, but we are thankful for their many contributions,” expressed Reese.
While Crookston loses four key members, Reese was pleased with the performance of two Pirates, in particular, giving a glimpse of potential leaders for next year’s team as the coach praised the performances of junior Sophia Sanders and freshman Olivia Huck.
The Pirates end their season with a 1-15-1 record. Bemidji improves to 11-4-2 and will take on Fergus Falls on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in Bemidji in the Section 8A quarterfinals.