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The Vikings boys’ soccer team held the Wildcats, one of the top teams in the section, off the scoreboard for most of the first half. But the Wildcats scored two goals late in the first half and added two more in the second to defeat the Vikings 4-0 Thursday, September 14 at North Branch. Senior midfielder Scott Leigh figured in three of the Wildcat goals, notching a goal and two assists.

The Vikings had a couple of good scoring opportunities early in the first half, but couldn’t put anything away. The Wildcats got on the board at the 35 minute mark. Leigh’s corner kick from the left corner curled around Viking goalkeeper Austin Holmes and inside the far post to put the Wildcats up 1-0. Just two minutes later, Leigh played a through ball for Chris Golv, and Golv put it away to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead going into halftime.

In the 50th minute, Leigh recorded his second assist of the game for the Wildcats when he played a ball through to Christian Swanberg, who scored to make it 3-0. And the Wildcats added one more goal with just five minutes left in the game as sophomore defender Zak Vrudny played a ball through to Golv, who scored his second goal of the game to make the final score Chisago Lakes 4, North Branch 0.

The Wildcats, the number one seed in the section last season, beat the Vikings 12-0 in 2005, but were only able to muster four goals this time. “Freshman goalkeeper Austin Holmes really stepped up big for us,” said Viking head coach Brad Gustafson. “He managed to steer several corner kicks away from the net and had a few amazing saves.”

“This was a big showing for us,” said Gustafson. “We played Chisago well, and we did it without a single senior on our team.  I’m looking forward to the next time we play, whether it’s this year in the playoffs or next season.  The thing that I’m most satisfied with is the fact that we can play even better.  We made some mistakes that cost us goals, mistakes that we can fix.  We’re going to be even better the next time we meet.”

Wildcat goalkeeper Tommy Fitzer had five saves in recording his sixth shutout of the season.

“We missed some opportunities in this one,” said Wildcat head coach Mark Leigh. “Scotty Leigh had a nice game with a lot of good setup passes, but we couldn’t finish enough of them. We need to slow down and work a little more to score.”

Leigh then talked about the Vikings. “Brad really gets his players to work hard,” he said. “And they are a young team. I expect them to improve as they get more upperclassmen in the mix.”

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