Crookston Girls Soccer Shutout by Detroit Lakes

The Crookston Pirates Girls’ Soccer team dropped a lightning-shortened game 4-0 against a talented Detroit Lakes side in a Section 8A matchup played at the Crookston High School Soccer Field.
Detroit Lakes carried possession early and often throughout the match and managed two quick goals to take control. Just seven minutes into the game, Nicole Swanson dribbled through the Crookston defense before shooting past Pirates’ goalkeeper Kylee Meyer giving Detroit Lakes a 1-0 lead. The Lakers lead doubled to 2-0 at 13:00 after a Crookston handball in the box awarded a penalty kick to Detroit Lakes which was converted by Emily Larson, who tucked a shot into the near post giving the visitors a 2-0 lead at halftime. In the first half, the Lakers’ possession domination was best displayed by outshooting Crookston 15-0. “They had a lot of shots,” said Crookston head coach Sarah Reese, “they had a lot of shots and not only that, but all of their shots were quality. Kylee (Meier) and Reese (Swanson) were really having to work in there and each of them had a couple phenomenal saves.”
In the second half, Detroit Lakes added another penalty kick on a handball, with Nicole Swanson receiving the honors to attempt the kick, which she converted for her second goal of the day to give the Lakers a 3-0 lead. Emily Larson set up Detroit Lakes’ final goal with a cross into the box that Nicole Swanson kicked into the net to complete her hattrick while giving the Lakers a 4-0 lead. Shortly after the fourth goal was scored a lightning strike several miles from the field was deemed close enough to require a delay of the game before both coaches agreed to end the match with 21:36 remaining and Detroit Lakes winning 4-0. “I think we did a good job of closing the space and making their shots more difficult,” explained Reese. “What we did last year was give them a lot of space and free reign and if you’re a good team and have time and space that’s not a good recipe for success, so we did a phenomenal job of getting in their space. They are quick, they make excellent passes, and they make excellent runs and so we did a very good job of managing our space in the middle-third and we also did a good job of adapting to the fact that they had three forward attackers, which is not traditionally what we see, so we did a good job of adapting to that.”
After the loss, Reese remained optimistic that a shift in mindset will lead the Pirates to future success, “we have to have people that have confidence. We have people who can shoot the ball from 30-yards out and it’s like an afterthought as opposed to their first thought. We keep telling them to shoot the ball because we need quality and quantity of shots.”
The Pirates fall to 0-3 this season and return to the pitch on Saturday to take on Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in Walker at 10 a.m. Detroit Lakes improves to 3-1.

Reese Swanson kicks the ball up the field    Claudia Dumrongkietiman dribbles the ball

Scoring
7:00 – Detroit Lakes – Nicole Swanson
13:00 – Detroit Lakes – Emily Larson (Penalty Kick)
46:00 – Detroit Lakes – Nicole Swanson (Penalty Kick)
49:00 – Detroit Lakes – Nicole Swanson (Emily Larson)