Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Scanning the schedule of the Forest Lake girls soccer team shows a lot more losses than wins, but with Section 7AA play beginning on Thursday, Oct. 11, the Rangers picked a nice time to find their second victory of the year.

The girls were in Roseville on Oct. 4 for a rematch against a team that beat them 5-1 in September. This time it would be a scoreless tie until Forest Lake’s Abbie Paulson came to the rescue late in the second half.

The senior defender was pulled up for some offense and she came through in a big way with the game-winner, as the Rangers would get the 1-0 victory.

“Yesterday’s win was a total team effort,” head coach Hanz Lehrke shared on Friday. “They played well the entire game and everyone contributed while they were on the field. They were calm and did what they had practiced for the last two months and were rightly rewarded for all their hard work. I was really happy for them.”

The win over Roseville may have served as a way to erase from the team’s collective memory, a 12-1 loss to White Bear Lake. Coming back with the victory in the regular season finale helped Forest Lake (2-14-1) avoid the play-in game and get the seventh seed in Section 7AA, where they will open with a road game at No. 2 seed Anoka (8-7-2) on Thursday, Oct. 11.

“A lot has happened over this season, and while they lost their focus for a week or so, they were able to regain it and play the way I knew they could,” Lehrke added.

The Rangers play at 7 p.m., and with a victory they would take on the winner of St. Francis/Coon Rapids on Saturday afternoon.

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