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Spring Lk Park 2, CL 1

Manny Cruceru opened the scoring with a first half penalty kick, but it was all the offense could muster as the Wildcats lost to the Spring Lake Park Panthers 2-1 Tuesday, September 2 at Spring Lake Park.

After Cam Bouwens was fouled in the game's opening minutes in the Panther penalty area, Cruceru scored on the penalty kick to put the Wildcats up 1-0. But with five minutes remaining in the half a poor clearing attempt rolled just outside the Wildcat penalty area and a Panther freshman ripped the ball into the net to tie the game at 1-1.

Wildcat head coach Mark Leigh moved a defender up front late in the game to try to generate some offense and get the go-ahead goal. Spring Lake Park took advantage as one of its defenders stole the ball, moved in and scored to make the final score Spring Lake Park 2, Chisago Lakes 1.

"Even though we scored the first goal," said Leigh, "they dominated the first half. They attacked with six or seven guys most of the time and really kept the ball moving. It was a nice display of high level soccer. Kyle Buchanan, our goalkeeper, made some great saves to keep us in the game. We got some good minutes out of Tyler Kari and Chris Thompson, too."

Duluth East 2, Chisago Lakes 0

Despite being outplayed by the Wildcats, Duluth East took advantage of two good scoring opportunities to beat the Wildcats 2-0 last Saturday, September 6 at Ki Chi Saga Park.

Both goals came in the last five minutes of the first half, and both came about due to defensive miscues. With five minutes remaining, Duluth East crossed a ball through the middle of the Wildcat penalty area. While attempting to clear the ball, the Wildcat defender fell down, and a Duluth East forward swooped in and boomed the unattended ball into the corner of the net.

With just under two minutes remaining in the half, Duluth East put a corner kick into the box. The Wildcats failed to clear the ball, and Duluth East ripped a shot into the corner of the net, just off the end of diving goalkeeper Kyle Buchanan's fingertips.

The Wildcats had plenty of opportunities in this one, but couldn't capitalize. They just missed the top of the net on a free kick, missed a couple of open breaks, headed one just wide and hit the crossbar with a shot.

"We played quite well but just couldn't score," said Wildcat head coach Mark Leigh. "Their coach came over after the game and told me he thought we should have won the game."

Chisago Lakes 2, Fridley 1

Frustrated by a recent lack of scoring from his team, Wildcat head coach Mark Leigh made a couple of changes before the Fridley game that paid instant dividends. He moved Dominic Novak from stopper to midfield and moved Anthony Lukas from outside defense to stopper. Novak responded with a goal just 10 minutes into the game as the Wildcats went on to beat the Tigers 2-1 Monday, September 8 at Fridley.

On Novak's goal, Manny Cruceru sped to the net on an open break. He put a shot on net. The keeper made the save, but Novak swooped in and knocked home the rebound, jump-starting the offense and giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

Fridley scored last in the first half to tie the game at 1-1. About 20 minutes into the second half, Cruceru made the Tigers pay for a defensive mistake. He stole the ball on a Fridley throw-in deep in the Fridley zone on the right side. He moved the ball to the top right corner of the penalty area and curled a beautiful left-footed shot into the left side of the net to put the Wildcats up 2-1. The rest of the half was pretty intense, but the Wildcats hung on for a 2-1 win.

"Fridley just beat Anoka 1-0 in a challenge tourney," said Leigh, "so this was a big win for us. We played a nice game, played hard defensively and played as a team. We had quite a number of good scoring chances and I'm glad we took advantage of two of them. Fridley was tough. They've got speed, quickness and good ball skills."

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