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North Branch 5

PACT 1

The monkey is finally off their backs.

After struggling through the first half of their season, the North Branch girls soccer team finally put it all together, defeating PACT last Tuesday for their first win of the season. In addition, the Vikings rolled to the win by scoring five goals.

“We played great,” mentioned Kristen Hetland, North Branch head girls soccer coach. “We finally put it all together for an entire game and even got a win out of the deal. I was happy with the way we played. We have played well before but it hasn’t resulted in a “W”. The girls were really pleased. It was good to get their confidence up and to have some fun.”

Brittany Bartylla definitely had some fun, scoring two goals in the win. Heather Schwab, Marlayna Graff and Dottie Graff also scored for the Vikings.

Bloomington Kennedy 7

North Branch 0

As for two in a row? It wasn’t meant to be.

Still rolling after their first win of the season two days earlier, the Vikings were brought back down to earth, stumbling to a 7-0 loss to Bloomington Kennedy last Thursday.

Kennedy did most of their damage in the first half, scoring five of their seven goals in the first 40 minutes of play. Leading 5-0 at the break, Kennedy added two more scores in the second, en route to a 7-0 win.

“We came out kind of flat and we had some girls out due to injuries and or illness which hurt us,” remarked Hetland. “The score was 5-0 in the first half, but they only scored two goals in the second. The second half was much better. We came out strong, passing to feet, talking and being aggressive.”

This week the Vikings will look to put that loss behind them as Chisago Lakes surfaces on the schedule on Friday. The game will take place in North Branch at the football stadium field starting at 7p.m. It will also be parents night for North Branch.

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