Posted: 10/5/05
Boys soccer shuts out Stillwater
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Joe Drennan
Sports Editor
A 2-0 victory over Stillwater at Stillwater was a first in the history of Forest Lake High School boys soccer earlier in the month. Stillwater wanted revenge Saturday when they played the Rangers in Forest Lake but all they came away with was a 0-0 tie.
ìFor me it was the most exciting game of the year,î Rangers head coach Shaun Conley said. ìIt was 0-0 which to the common fan that sounds pretty dull, but I havenít seen a game that was so up and down as this one was. We had so many chances, they had so many chances and nobody could put the ball in the back of the net.î
Jordan Bengston came close to scoring for the Rangers with just over five minutes to play in regulation. Bengston sent the ball in the air and Conley said it looked to him to be headed to the back of the net, but instead it hit the crossbar.
ìIím happy with the result because we didnít let up a goal to Stillwater all year,î Conley said. ìOur defense played strong against them and Iím very proud of the boys and how they played them.î
The Rangers started the week off with a loss to Roseville though last Tuesday. The Rangers held Roseville scoreless
through regulation and a first overtime, but with just over two minutes to go in the second overtime Roseville was able to score the game winning goal.
ìIt was a heartbreaker,î Conley said. ìRoseville is the number one offense in the conference and we held them scoreless until a free kick.î
Roseville scored on a free kick that sailed just over the Rangers goalkeepers head.
ìIt was a tough loss because if we would have won we would have been close to third place in the conference,î Conley said.
Last Thursday the Rangers traveled down to play Hastings on their narrow field and came away with a 1-1 tie.
The Rangers goal came in the first half of the game when Jeff Kohler chipped the ball through the Hastings defense to Sam York who was able to curl the ball around the Hastings goalkeeper and put the Rangers up 1-0.
ìWith the way our defense was playing I didnít expect us to let up a goal and in a way they didnít,î Conley said.
The Hastings goal came off a questionable penalty kick.
ìIn my mind it wasnít a legit fall by the Hastings player, but the game was at Hastings and you expect the officials to make the calls in favor of the home team,î Conley said. ìWe had a couple of chances but most importantly we came away from Hastings with a result.î
The Rangers close out their regular season schedule tonight, Thursday, when they host Roseville in a rematch that begins at 5 p.m.
ìWeíre not looking past Tuesdayís game against Mounds View, but we really want another chance at Roseville. ìI think the game on our home field will be a different story.î
If the Rangers win their game Tuesday night and tonight theyíll have a good chance of drawing home field advantage in the first round of section play.
ìWe can make a good run in our section and make a run at state,î Conley said. ìOur team is playing the right way in focusing on defense first and scoring second.î
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