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Duluth Central 3, North Branch 2

The eleventh-seeded Viking girls' soccer team gave sixth-seeded Duluth Central a run for their money, but fell just short as they lost to the Trojans 3-2 in the opening round of the Section 7A playoffs last Thursday, October 9 at Duluth. The loss ended the Vikings' season.

Jessica Audette led off the scoring for the Vikings (3-11-2) with a nice upper angle shot just a few minutes into the game. Duluth Central (7-11-0) tied it just before halftime.

The game's outcome turned on a controversial play early in the second half. The Vikings broke the ball out of their zone and rushed down the field with four players moving toward the net. The ball was played thru to the two players who were onside. The two players who were offsides were on the other side of the field and clearly out of the play, but the linesman called offsides anyway. On the ensuing free kick, the Trojans lofted the ball deep into the North Branch zone. The Trojan player who received the ball was clearly offsides, but no call was made. She took the ball in and scored to put Duluth Central up 2-1. The Trojans added another goal a few minutes later to go up 3-1. With just a few minutes remaining, Audette scored her second goal of the game on a breakaway from just outside the 18-yard box. But Duluth Central shut down the Vikings the rest of the way and came away with a 3-2 win.

"We were playing with the wind in the first half," said Viking head coach Peter Grand. "I was worried that Duluth Central would have the advantage in the second half. But going against the wind in the first half must have made them tired or something, because we actually had better scoring opportunities in the second half. It's just too bad we couldn't have converted a couple more of them."

"Our girls came out of this game with a high hat," said Viking head coach Peter Grand. "What I mean is that they were happy with their performance. Even though we lost, it was a good way to end the season. It showed we were better than our section seeding."

ACADEMIC AWARDS

Both the North Branch boys' and North Branch girls' soccer teams won the award as the top academic teams in the North Suburban Conference. "Academics are very important," said Coach Grand. "I'm very proud that both teams won."

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