The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Soccer team’s Kenze Epema scored two goals six minutes apart in the first 20 minutes of the game and they cruised the rest of the way for a 2-0 victory over Mesabi East in a match played at the Crookston High School soccer field. The Pirate Girls wore teal shoe laces compliments of RiverView Health as part of Ovarian Cancer Awareness month. We have pictures of the girls below in the photo gallery.
Crookston controlled play for the first 10 minutes and had a few shots on goal, but the Pirates opened up the offense when Kenze Epema scored the first goal of the game at the 13-minute mark. Epema took a pass from Kylie Meyer and sped by the defense and kicked the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. Epema added another goal six minutes later. She used her speed to get by the defense and kicked it into the net for a 2-0 lead halfway through the first half. “Kenze is good at keeping the ball at her feet and likes to attack when she has the ball,” said Crookston Coach Sarah Reese. “She had a couple of nice goals and it was great to keep the momentum going.”
In the second half, Crookston had 14 shots on goal, but Mesabi East’s goalkeeper was ready for the challenge and stopped all the shots. “We had a great game. We held the possession of the ball in the attacking third for 99 percent of the game,” said Coach Reese. “In the first half we had quantity and quality and in the second half we had quantity.”
The Pirate defense only allowed one shot on goal in the game. “We talked on coaches corner this morning about our offense playing defense and our defense playing offense and obviously they were watching,” said Reese. “The girls played well and nice to get another win.”
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Mesabi East | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Crookston | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Scoring
13:00 – Crox – Kenze Epema (Kylie Meyer)
19:00 – Crox – Kenze Epema
| Saves | 1 | 2 | Total |
| Reese Swanson – Crox | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Isabelle Przybylski – ME | 9 | 14 | 23 |
