The Crookston Boys Soccer team traveled to Fergus Falls on Monday night to battle the Otters. It was a close match, but Fergus Falls came out on top 2-0 scoring one goal in the first half, and another in the second. “I thought we played a much better team than St. John’s Prep from last week,” said Pirates Coach Lon Boike. “It was an extremely even game and they took advantage of their opportunities, and we didn’t. I would say we did improve against a better team.”
Shots throughout the game and ball control was even the whole way, and that was the case early on as both teams tried to draw first blood. Fergus Falls would finally break through with about eight minutes left until halftime to take a 1-0 lead. Crookston would have a couple of chances in the first half, but Fergus Falls would keep the Pirates off the scoreboard and take a 1-0 lead into the break. “They had a really solid goaltender, and he did a good job of keeping us off the board. He had a really strong leg as well,” said Coach Boike. “Their team speed matched up with ours so while we didn’t struggle getting shots off, they definitely neutralized our midfielders and strikers. I would say our quality of shots weren’t as good as theirs and that was a big reason, they were able to score, and we weren’t.”
In the second half Crookston did a nice job of slowing the Otters attack down and keeping it a one goal game. “Defensively I thought we played a really good game tonight,” said Coach Boike. “It probably should’ve been a 1-0 loss instead of a 2-0 loss.” The reason for that is because halfway through the second half Fergus Falls got an open shot that a Pirate player hit with his hand inside the box, resulting in a Penalty Kick. The Otters would capitalize and build their lead to 2-0 with just twenty minutes remaining in the match. “Other than that, the defense played well and gave us chances,” said Coach Boike. “We moved the ball down the field we just never really got a ton of great shots off.” Crookston would be unable to find the back of the net in the final twenty minutes, and the Otters would pick up the win 2-0.
Crookston now falls to 0-2 on the season and will be back in action tomorrow when they host Bemidji for the home opener. “Bemidji is going to be really really good,” said Coach Boike. “I think Melrose is a very winnable game for us on Thursday but it’ll also be our third game of the week so it could be tough conditioning wise. We didn’t have any injuries tonight so that’s good, and the goal at this point in the season is to just keep improving and if we do that will start winning our fair share of matches.” Crookston’s match against Bemidji will get underway tomorrow at 5:45 p.m. following the conclusion of the girls game.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fergus Falls | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Scoring
Fergus Falls – 32:00 – Zierden
Fergus Falls – 60:00 – Rodriguez (PK)
| SAVES | 1 | 2 | Final |
| Blake Melsa – Crox | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Kyle Beck – Fergus Falls | 3 | 4 | 7 |
