Colborn scores three as Crookston Pirate Boys Soccer shuts out St. John’s Prep

The Crookston Pirate Boys Soccer team kicked off the 2024 season with a 4-0 shutout as they beat St. John’s Prep in at the College of Saint Benedict in a Section 8A matchup. Brandon Colborn had a natural hat trick, and Reggie Winjum had a shutout to lead the Pirates.

FIRST HALF –
After a little bit of back-and-forth play, St. John’s Prep started controlling play a bit before the Pirates settled in. “We struggle a little bit early on,” said Pirate Coach Lon Boike. “We dumped balls in and they would stop it before we started to catch up to the balls.”
It only took a little over 14 minutes for the Pirates to score their first goal, as Brandon Colborn got a nice pass from Jack Everett and blasted the ball past the goalie for a 1-0 lead. “Jack had a nice pass to Brandon,” said Coach Boike. “Brandon has a great leg, and he kicked it in to get us going early.”
Crookston continued to control play a bit and added another goal about 10 minutes later when Colburn struck again for his second goal of the game to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. “Brandon seems to be at the right place at the right time,” said Coach Boike. “We jokingly say all he does is score goals, and he did that today. He positions himself well and reads the ball well.”
St. John’s Prep tried to get some momentum in the late minutes of the half and was able to get a couple of long shots on goal, but Crookston held on and took a 2-0 lead into halftime. “I thought defensively we did a pretty good job, and Reggie Winjum did a great job in his first game playing goalie.”

SECOND HALF –
The play was a little more even in the second half, and it wasn’t until halfway through the half that Crookston had their first quality shot on goal. Matthew Contreras got a great shot on goal, but the Prep goalie made the save to keep the Pirate lead at 2-0.
About four minutes later, St. John’s Prep started putting pressure on Crookston and got a shot on goal, but Pirate goalie Reggie Winjum made an excellent save on a kick from about 20 yards out. Less than two minutes later, Crookston had a great shot on goal, but the SJP goalie got a piece of the ball and made a save.
Crookston had a huge four-minute span halfway through the half. Jack Everett had a corner kick and placed the middle of the scrum in front of the net. The ball hit the turf, and Jay Reese kicked it. It hit several players before Colborn came in and blasted the ball into the net for a 3-0 lead. “Jay kind of tipped the ball, and it was loose in front of Brandon, who came in and put it in,” said Coach Boike. “Brandon was pretty happy, as you can imagine.”
It didn’t take long for Crookston to cash in again. Colburn had a corner kick, and this time, Matthew Contreras came in with a header and knocked the ball into the net for a 4-0 lead with over 12 minutes left in the game. “Brandon took the corner kick, and Matt was in the right spot and put it in,” said Coach Boike. “Matt has great instincts and seems to be in the right place all the time and had a great goal.”
Crookston continued to play hard, but SJP battled until the end and had a few shots on goal in the final minutes. Pirate goalie Reggie Winjum made some excellent saves, and Crookston held on for a 4-0 victory to open up the season. “It was a really good opener, especially after being on the bus for three and a half to four hours,” said Boike. “Defensively, we played well with Reggie in goal, and all our defenders were superb, especially in the second half.”

Crookston improves to 1-0 on the year and will host Bemidji on Thursday, August 29, at the Crookston High School soccer field. St. John’s Prep drops to 0-1 on the year.

	1st	2nd	Final
Crookston	2	2	4
St. John’s Prep	0	0	0

Scoring –
14:59 – Crox – Brandon Colborn (Jack Everett)
24:11 – Crox – Brandon Colborn (Jack Everett)
64:03 – Crox – Brandon Colborn (Jay Reese)
67:21 – Crox – Matthew Contreras (Brandon Colborn)