Alexandria shuts out Lakers in opening playoff game

Six first-half goals scored by the Alexandria boys soccer team boosted it to a 7-0 victory over Detroit Lakes at home Thursday in the first round of the Section 8A tournament. The third-seeded Cardinals came out fast, extending the lead to six with three quick goals in the final five minutes of the first half. With this being tournament time, the Cardinals were happy to put the game out of reach early against sixth-seeded Detroit Lakes. “We took it to them right away,” said Kagan Foster, who scored three goals on Thursday. “That was good to do.” Devin Crowe got the scoring started for Alexandria as he knocked in a goal only three minutes into the first half. Foster scored the next two goals for Alexandria, with the second coming at the 34:53 mark in the first half. The Cardinals then added a flurry of goals with under five minutes left in the first half. Crowe, Foster and Sam Jensen each tallied once goal to give Alexandria a 6-0 lead at halftime. Head coach Justin Wegleitner said Detroit Lakes appeared to lose all momentum towards the end of the first half after the Cardinals continued to score goals. “We got caught down, and we just couldn’t get our heads back up to recover after that third goal,” Wegleitner said. Detroit Lakes held off the Cardinals offense for a majority of the second half. Defenseman AJ Flowers, who switched to forward in the final minutes, scored one final goal for the Cardinals with 3:47 left in the game.
The victory helped the Cardinals gain some confidence heading into a second-round showdown between either West Ottertail United or Walker-Hackensack-Akeley/CL-B. Forwards Crowe and Foster, who score a combined five goals on Thursday, said they are happy with their offensive efforts at this point of the season. “Me and Kagan are working a lot better up top, and we are staying closer to each other,” Crowe said. The game was the second matchup between the Alexandria and Detroit Lakes this season after the Cardinals won a much closer 1-0 game on August 23. Since then, Alexandria has returned players back from injury and feel they have gelled as a team. “It was our second game of the season,” Foster said. “We’ve gotten a lot more chemistry throughout the team. We’ve got Crowe here; he had a concussion at the time. Everything’s coming together real nice.” Health has been a concern for head coach Cahil Collins for most of the season, but he said the team is healthy at the right time. “Everyone’s looking good,” Collins said. “Healthy, it’s really nice to have the whole team in place ready to rock and roll.” “You’ve got to hand it to them, they played well and finished strong,” Wegleitner said. “Connor Johnson is a great goalkeeper for us, he had 174 regular season saves, and they caught him on some great angles.” The Lakers wrapped up the season with a 2-14-1 record. Tweets by @DLNewspapersSix first-half goals scored by the Alexandria boys soccer team boosted it to a 7-0 victory over Detroit Lakes at home Thursday in the first round of the Section 8A tournament.The third-seeded Cardinals came out fast, extending the lead to six with three quick goals in the final five minutes of the first half. With this being tournament time, the Cardinals were happy to put the game out of reach early against sixth-seeded Detroit Lakes.“We took it to them right away,” said Kagan Foster, who scored three goals on Thursday. “That was good to do.”Devin Crowe got the scoring started for Alexandria as he knocked in a goal only three minutes into the first half.Foster scored the next two goals for Alexandria, with the second coming at the 34:53 mark in the first half.The Cardinals then added a flurry of goals with under five minutes left in the first half. Crowe, Foster and Sam Jensen each tallied once goal to give Alexandria a 6-0 lead at halftime.Head coach Justin Wegleitner said Detroit Lakes appeared to lose all momentum towards the end of the first half after the Cardinals continued to score goals.“We got caught down, and we just couldn’t get our heads back up to recover after that third goal,” Wegleitner said.Detroit Lakes held off the Cardinals offense for a majority of the second half. Defenseman AJ Flowers, who switched to forward in the final minutes, scored one final goal for the Cardinals with 3:47 left in the game.
The victory helped the Cardinals gain some confidence heading into a second-round showdown between either West Ottertail United or Walker-Hackensack-Akeley/CL-B. Forwards Crowe and Foster, who score a combined five goals on Thursday, said they are happy with their offensive efforts at this point of the season.“Me and Kagan are working a lot better up top, and we are staying closer to each other,” Crowe said.The game was the second matchup between the Alexandria and Detroit Lakes this season after the Cardinals won a much closer 1-0 game on August 23. Since then, Alexandria has returned players back from injury and feel they have gelled as a team.“It was our second game of the season,” Foster said. “We’ve gotten a lot more chemistry throughout the team. We’ve got Crowe here; he had a concussion at the time. Everything’s coming together real nice.”Health has been a concern for head coach Cahil Collins for most of the season, but he said the team is healthy at the right time.“Everyone’s looking good,” Collins said. “Healthy, it’s really nice to have the whole team in place ready to rock and roll.”“You’ve got to hand it to them, they played well and finished strong,” Wegleitner said. “Connor Johnson is a great goalkeeper for us, he had 174 regular season saves, and they caught him on some great angles.”The Lakers wrapped up the season with a 2-14-1 record.Tweets by @DLNewspapers