The Crookston Pirate Boys Soccer team gave up a goal in the first minute of the game and that is all Fergus Falls Hillcrest would need on their way to a 5-0 victory in a Section 8A matchup at the Crookston High School soccer field in Crookston.
Hillcrest scored 49 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead before the fans were settled in their seats. “That was a little disappointing,” said Crookston Coach Lon Boike. “We were pretty pumped up at the start of the game, maybe a little too much and we didn’t mark somebody up and they scored.” The rest of the half was even with both teams having a few scoring opportunities with most of the half played in the middle third of the field. Hillcrest added another goal with less than nine minutes left in the half and took a 2-0 lead into halftime. “I thought the first half was the best half of the year, so far,” said Coach Boike. “We had some opportunities to score, but their goalie came up with some nice saves.”
In the second half, Hillcrest scored a goal less than five seconds into the game for a 3-0 lead. The teams played even for the next 10 minutes or so until it looked like the Pirates started to get worn down by the non-stop Hillcrest attack and they scored two goals about 10 minutes apart. Crookston didn’t go down without a fight as Noah Kiel, Jacob Brunelle and Noah Dragseth all had quality scoring opportunities but didn’t score and Hillcrest held on for a 5-0 victory. “I feel bad for the guys because they are working so hard and it could have been 2-2 at halftime, but we missed the net on a couple of shots,” said Coach Boike. “They guys worked hard and we had a great first half and average second half. We are improving and that is the important thing.”
Kaleb Thingelstad made 16 saves for the Pirates and had a solid game. “He is athletic and did a great job, especially in the first half,” said Coach Boike. “He came up with a lot of big saves and had a nice game.”
Crookston drops to 0-4 on the year and will host Pelican Rapids on Tuesday.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| FF Hillcrest | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scoring
0:49 – FFHC – Kristian Malstad (Severin Breck)
31:02 – FFHC – Severin Breck
44:18 – FFHC – Kristian Malstad
57:51 – FFHC – Severin Breck (Vetle Myntevik)
67:36 – FFHC – Vetle Myntevik
| Saves | 1st | 2nd | Total |
| Zajen McArton – FFHC | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Kaleb Thingelstad – Crox | 10 | 6 | 16 |
