Pirate Boys Soccer uses late goal to hold on to victory on Senior Night

The Crookston Pirates boys’ soccer team relied on a freshman to win on Senior Night, as Masen Lessard scored in the final 10 minutes to give the Pirates a 1-0 win over the Detroit Lakes Lakers in the season finale at KROX Radio Stadium.

FIRST HALF –
The first half started out well for the Pirates on their senior day, as they controlled the ball very well to start the game. In the 6th minute, Crookston got their first corner kick of the evening, but DL goalkeeper Owen Lipton cleared it out. The corner sparked a good Pirates run, where they had shots from Tony Elbinger, Jay Reese, and Grant Funk, but they all went high or wide. DL got a corner kick in the 15th minute, but it was saved by Reggie Winjum. The Pirates got more corner kicks in the 24th and 30th minute, but were unable to make anything out of them. Besides a Laker breakaway being overturned due to offsides, the rest of the half went by with little offensive action, and the half ended with a scoreless tie.

SECOND HALF –
As the second half rolled, the Crookston offense increased its aggressiveness. They prevented the Laker offense from getting anything going, allowing Winjum to wait until the 52nd minute before recording his first save of the half. After three corner kicks in the first half, Crookston racked up eight corner kicks in the second half but were unable to score on any of them. In the 63rd minute, Gunnar Groven had a breakaway, but Lipton made a phenomenal save to keep the match scoreless. After all the scoring chances the Pirates had, as well as many offsides calls throughout the half, it was after a free kick that the ball leaked behind the Laker defense, and Masen Lessard tucked it into the lower left corner to put the Pirates up 1-0. The Pirates were then able to hold off the Lakers, and held on for a second consecutive win, taking the match 1-0.

Crookston improves to 3-7-2 on the season and will host the first round of the Section 8A playoffs on Tuesday. The Pirates will either play East Grand Forks or Morris. Detroit Lakes falls to 2-13.