Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

It hasn’t exactly been an ideal start for the 2007 Forest Lake girls soccer team, as the Rangers had yet to win a game. But when three members were in a car accident before taking on No. 5-ranked Mounds View on Thursday, Sept. 6, the good news is that everyone is relatively healthy.

The bad news, in terms of conference standings, is that Forest Lake lost 6-0.

One of the players involved in the accident was goalie Whitney Fenne. She was brave enough to start against the Mustangs, but after making a handful of fantastic saves, the sophomore keeper had to leave the field due to effects from the crash.

Head coach Hanz Lehrke thought his team opened the contest in good shape, playing well enough to hang around with a 1-0 deficit in the early stages. But the Rangers missed a variety of opportunities on offense, as the struggle to score many goals continued.

Against a squad that put up eight goals in their season-opening match-up, there was the fear that Mounds View would find its rhythm and take off. It was near the midway point of the first half when the Mustangs broke loose and strung together a series of goals.

“One right after the other” Lehrke noted.

Lehrke felt sloppy play, the depleted bench, and relying on the injured Fenne for as long as they did, were a few reasons why the Rangers fell so far behind.

With approximately 10 minutes gone in the second half, lightning arrived and play was suspended. Since more than a half was completed, the game will stand as a final score.

The wonderful weekend of What else can go wrong? went over to Woodbury on Saturday morning.

Nothing like following up a car wreck and a 6-0 loss to one of Minnesota’s best, with a road game against the No. 1 ranked, defending state champion, Woodbury Royals.

Forest Lake began this one with 10 varsity players and seven from the junior varsity.

With the revamped and inexperienced roster, it’s not a good sign when Lehrke admits, “Woodbury is the best team we’ve faced.”

The proof was in the 8-0 pudding.

“We let down and they scored a couple that we should have prevented, but Woodbury controlled most of the match,” Lehrke said. “The JV players all played extremely well.”

The Rangers came up with only two quality attempts on goal while the Royals made senior goaltender Kayla Raarup work, as she made 15 saves on the 23 shots.

Before the miserable Thursday and Saturday results, the girls were home on Tuesday, Sept. 4 for a match against Cretin-Derham Hall.

The Raiders earned the 4-2 win, but Lehrke thought his team’s play was getting closer to where he’d like it to be, despite coming out flat.

Cretin scored early on a couple of bad goals, but the Rangers didn’t let up and made plenty of runs of their own.

Down 3-0 at the half, Forest Lake came back after the break and pulled to within 3-2, courtesy of two goals by senior Carly Bass. One was off a free kick, and the second came off a long shot from an attempted clear by Cretin-Derham Hall.

The Raiders knocked in their fourth goal with about 10 minutes remaining in the contest.

Heading into Monday’s home game against Hastings, Lehrke was understandably hoping for a healthier team.

“Overall we are improving,” he said. “They are all trying and we are improving, some days faster than others. I am still very confident we will put some wins on the board and the team will be rewarded for the hard work they continue to do day in and day out.”

HASTINGS WIN

On Monday evening the girls faced Hastings and utilized two goals by freshman Sarah Ulrich to secure the team’s first win of the season, 2-1.

The Rangers will try to find more victories when they host Park on Wednesday, Andover on Friday, and Hastings on Saturday.

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