There has been a big monkey on the backs of the Detroit Lakes girls' soccer team in the form of the East Grand Forks Green Wave, and in the Section 8-1A quarterfinals, the Lakers did everything they could to pull off the upset.
The No. 4 seeded Lakers came close to victory over the No. 1 Green Wave, doing everything but winning the game.
Instead, East Grand Forks survived the Lakers 4-3, after scoring the tying goal and ultimate winning tally in the final six minutes of the game.
"I was proud of how the girls played, we did everything right, but win the game," said DL head coach Dave Carter.
The Green Wave scored three of their four goals on set plays, including two corner kicks in the waning minutes of the contest.
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The scoring was rampant in the final 10 minutes, in fact, as the Lakers pulled a 3-2 lead at the 70 minute mark after sophomore midfielder Natalie Roth hit junior attacker Emily Payne in the open.
"Things were going well, we were controlling possession and it looked as if that was going to be the final score," Carter said.
But EGF sophomore midfielder Coco Piche bent a corner kick in for a goal with 6:55 remaining in the game to tie the score 3-3.
A little controversy occurred after an EGF player screened DL senior goalie Courtney Gray, thus impeding her advancement on the ball.
"Some refs do stop the play and call that," Carter said of the screen of his goalie. "But they didn't this time."
Minutes later, another Green Wave corner kick resulted in a goal after it went to an open back post, who kicked it in for the eventual win.
"We had the lead and gave it away," Carter said.
The Lakers, who were not able to build a lead against the Green Wave in their last several meetings, actually had two Saturday.
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EGF took the first lead 1-0 on a penalty kick 20 minutes into the game, which ended up being the halftime score.
Shots on goal were even at three apiece in the first half.
"At half, we were pretty excited because they really had not done anything and I told the girls to go out there in the second half and get that goal back," Carter said.
Six minutes into the half, that's exactly what the Lakers did, as senior Heidi Nelson booted a free kick to junior Haley Foster, who tied the game 1-1.
In the 29th minute, the Lakers took their first lead as freshman midfielder Jade Olson picked up a rebound shot by junior attacker Libby Schmit.
EGF tied the game 2-2 on a long shot in the 18th minute.
For the game, the two teams had 12 shots apiece on goal, which was quite the difference from the last time the two met and the Green Wave had 37 shots on net.
"Our defense didn't let them through, which was quite an accomplishment, it being on their smaller field and all," Carter said.
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The Green Wave beat St. Cloud Cathedral in the semifinals and will meet Bemidji for the Section 8-1A championship at St. Cloud State University Thursday.
