Girls soccer: Bemidji routs Crookston 11-0 for senior night victory
BEMIDJI – Things should be fun on Senior Night.
The Bemidji girls soccer team followed that philosophy perfectly Monday evening.
The Lumberjacks scored 10 goals in the first half of play and spent the second working on their passing game en route to a 11-0 rout of Crookston at the Bemidji Middle School soccer field.
“It was a great senior night,” BHS head coach Kelly Schoonover said. “The girls had a lot of fun.
“But as a coach my favorite thing was the second half. We were really able to work on our passing and possession game.”
Bemidji (8-6) got goals galore in the first half. Five different Lumberjacks scored in the half. Josie Spry had a hat trick 30 minutes into the game, scoring goals in the sixth, 12th and 30th minute.
She added another in the second half for a team-high four goals on the afternoon.
But Spry wasn’t the only one to get in on the fun.
Mackenzie Hietala scored her first varsity goal of the season in the 16th minute of play.
Her goal was followed by a strike from Emily Boyer in the 20th minute, than two straight scores from Casey Palmer in the 22nd and 24th minute. Palmer was taking a break from her normal duties in goal, ceding the net to Cassidy Morris, who got the shutout and the win.
Boyer scored in the 25th minute, followed by Rachel Holm in the 28th, Spry in the 30th and Erin booth in the 31st.
Rachel Bitter, Maea Wall, Katie Grey, Palmer, Boyer and Booth all notched assists in the game.
Spry finished the BHS tally with her second-half goal, but Schoonover said the Lumberjacks backed off in the second half and tried some new things.
“We really wanted to work on getting smooth passing,” she said. “We’re not going to gain anything if we had beat them 20-0, so we were able to rest some girls and play some of the younger girls as well.”
Schoonover instituted a mandate for number of passes before shots in the second half. The Lumberjacks, accordingly, only had five shots in the second half compared to 15 in the first.
The Pirates (1-11) managed only six shots in the entire game, four in the second half. Cassidy Morris made all six saves.
The Lumberjacks return to the field twice more before the section tournament, both on the road. They’ll travel to Detroit Lakes Thursday before wrapping up the second Saturday at Hillcrest.
Bemidji 11, Crookston 0
Bemidji 10 1 – 11
Crookston 0 0 – 0
Scoring
First Half
B – Spry (Wall), 6:00
B – Spry (K. Gray), 12:00
B – Hietala (K. Gray), 16:00
B – Boyer (Palmer), 20:00
B – Palmer (Boyer), 22:00
B – Palmer, 24:00
B – Boyer (Booth), 25:00
B – Holm (Booth), 28:00
B – Spry (Bitter), 30:00
B – Booth, 31:00
Second Half
B – Spry (Booth), 47:00
