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Chisago Lakes 15,   St. Cloud 6

The Chisago Lakes boys started out in  the hole after St. Cloud got the first goal in the game at St. Cloud on Monday, May 1.  “We had a little breakdown in our defense where we didn't communicate to slide to the dodger coming from X,” Head Coach Mark Nordby said. “It's just playing team defense. All of the regular season games are for learning and improving, the defense will figure that out.”

Kadin Passeretti got the Wildcats on the board to tie it up 1-1 with a dodge from the back of the net to stuff it past the goalie.

Not too long after that, Dylan Dassner smoked past the defender to the right side to blast a shot past the goalie.  “Our attack has been getting most of the goals this year, but much of that has to do with our midfielders dodging hard, like Dylan to draw slides and then finding the open man.  A lot of defenses forget that we have some outstanding and quick middies who can blow right by guys,” Nordby explained.

The St. Cloud defense had no answers to the Wildcats going into halftime with the score at 11-2.  Chisago Lakes got a lot of looks at the goal and were playing good team ball. “It's great when everything is working and guys are connected,” Nordby said.

Passeretti once again got the second half started with a goal initiated from in back of the net.  “Kadin is usually pretty good at dodging from X, but it really also is about the teammates and what they do off-ball,” the head coach noted. “Clearing through and drawing defenders away from the crease is also just as important.  Our guys understand that.”

In the third and fourth quarter, Chisago Lakes started going to the bench and getting players into the game.   “We have a deep bench and getting more guys involved into the varsity game is good. Senior Colin Meyers is a great example. He practices hard everyday and has solid skills but just happens to have some attackmen ahead in the lineup,” Nordby beamed “Seeing Colin score got our whole team fired up.  He's such a great teammate."

In all eight different players scored while allowing just six goals in by the defense.  "We're getting a lot of guys in and are learning our set plays and how to move off ball,” Nordby mentioned. “But, we have to keep adding wrinkles to our offense and the defense also will be installing a new defense.  It's all about peaking for sections.”

Chisago Lakes 17  Brainerd 0

The blowouts continued for the Wildcats, as they hosted Brainerd on Friday, May 5 with a high scoring mismatch.  

Brainerd has many players who only play during the season and are trying to get more youth involved.  “We're very lucky here in Chisago Lake to have a solid youth program with lots of boys who can't wait to be on the high school team one day,” Nordbly said proudly of the long way the program has come from its inception.

The Wildcats had scoring from 12 different Cats including first time goals by sophomore Max Bobrowski, senior goalie Dylan Peterson and freshman Landon Kerkow.   "Max is really starting to show a decent understanding of the game and has some natural talent that he brings over from hockey, Nordby said.  “He's a player that sees the field well but also knows how to score. Kerkow is the same way.  Landon's a very talented athlete who we're starting to put into the varsity lineup.”

Another first-time goal came from senior goalie Dylan Peterson.  Peterson got the save late in the game and called his own number.  Picking his way through the defense, he was unstoppable and juked and jived all the way to firing the ball past the Warrior goaltender.  “DP has been waiting for that moment a long time,” Nordby exclaimed. “The team went berserk on the sideline including me.”

Chisago Lakes took on Duluth in a tough test earlier this week and will travel to Becker on Friday, May 12 with the hopes of keeping their undefeated record in tact.

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