The Crookston Pirate Girls Soccer team scored its first goal of the season, but the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Wolves scored a pair of goals to win the Section 8A matchup 2-1 in Walker.
FIRST HALF –
The first half was a great back-and-forth battle with the Wolves striking 13 minutes into the game for a 1-0 lead. Crookston battled back and answered with a goal seven minutes later. Crookston’s Maddie Harbott had a free kick from about 25 yards out and the WHA goalie stopped the ball, but the rebound got away and Anna Heldstab got the ball in the six yard box and kicked the ball into the net to tie the game at 1-1. “It is exciting for anna to get her first varsity goal,” said Pirate Coach Sarah Reese. “It was also Anna’s first career goal.”
It looked like the teams were going to go into halftime tied at one beut the Wolves changed that as Zoe Cox scored with five minutes left in the half to take a 2-1 lead into halftime. “They planted a very high and wide forward and kicked long balls wich gave us a little trouble in the first half but we went over that and made sure we cleaned that up going into the second half,” said Coach Reese.
SECOND HALF –
The second half had both teams playing more of a defensive style of game as there were only a total of two Crookston shots on goal and WHA had five shots. Crookston had the ball in good position several times, but weren’t able to get a kick on goal. “We need to take more shots and finish,” said Coach Reese. “We also need to play as a team defensively and transition offensively.”
The teams were evenly matched and both goalies came up with some saves as neither team could find the net and WHA won the game 2-1.
“We were well matched today. It was a winnable game,” said Coach Reese. “Kinsley Wangen, our outside-mid had a great game working the line defensively and offensively and was constantly hustling.”
Coach Reese said they will hopefully see improvement when the two teams meet later this month in Crookston, “We get to see them again in a few weeks and hopefully will have a different outcome.”
Crookston drops to 0-4 on the year and will play their toughest opponent of the year when they host East Grand Forks on Tuesday.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Crookston | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| F.F. Hillcrest | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Scoring –
13:00 – WHA – Elizabeth Cairns
20:00 – Crookston – Anna Heldstab (Maddie Harbott)
35:00 – WHA – Zoe Cox
| SAVES | 1 | 2 | Final |
| Naomi Johnson – Crox | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Natalie Dixon – WHA | 3 | – | 3 |
| Angelique White – WHA | – | 2 | 2 |
