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Chisago Lakes Girls

The Wildcat girls’ soccer team won three of four games over the past week to improve their season record to 6-3-2.  On Monday, September 8, Emma Knabe scored the only goal of the game in the first half and the Wildcats shut out their local rival, the Forest Lake Rangers, 1-0 in front of the home crowd at Chisago Lakes High School.  Two days later, Knabe scored the game’s only goal in the second half as the Wildcats shut out Mississippi 8 Conference foe Princeton 1-0 at home.  Civeah McDonald assisted on Knabe’s goal.  The next day, Knabe scored again against the Becker Bulldogs in a conference matchup at Becker High School.  But the Wildcats gave up five goals and lost 5-2.  Autumn Lukkason scored the Wildcats’ other goal, and McDonald and Zoey Nash each picked up an assist.  And on Monday, September 15, Knabe scored for the fifth straight game to lead the Wildcats to a 2-0 win at home against their third straight conference opponent, the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets.  Sienna Benson also scored and assists went to Lucia Arndt and Jayden Pohlman.  Goalkeeper Ruby Anderson added three shutouts to bring her season total to seven.

Chisago Lakes Boys

The Wildcat boys lost three of four games played over an eight-day period to drop their record to 2-8-0 for the season.  They traveled to Como Park High School on Monday, September 8 and lost to the Cougars 5-1.  The score for the game at Beker on Thursday, September 11 was not posted, so we don’t even know if the game was played.  We have reached out to the Wildcat coaching staff about the game but have not received a response to this point.  On Saturday, September 13, Bode Martin and Fernando Saldivar Balbuena each scored in the second half to lead the Wildcats to a 2-0 win over the Mesabi East Giants.  The Wildcats were shut out in their next two games, a 1-0 loss at home to the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets on Monday, September 15 and a 5-0 loss to PACT Charter School Panthers.

North Branch Girls

The Viking girls tied three of four games over the last week to bring their season record to 2-1-7, and all three ties were against Mississippi 8 Conference opponents.  Seven ties in the first ten games of the season is a school record for the Vikings.  And they have allowed just ten goals in ten games.  Scorers of goals in all recent games are unknown, as the coaching staff has not posted statistical information for those games and has not responded to a request for the information.  On Monday, September 8, they battled to a 0-0 tie at home against the St. Francis Fighting Saints.  On Thursday, September 11, they tied the Big Lake Hornets 1-1 at home.  Monday, September 15 saw the Vikings travel to St. Cloud Tech High School, where they lost 2-1 to the Tigers.  And they headed to Becker High School the next day, battling to 1-1 tie with the Bulldogs. 

North Branch Boys

The Viking boys’ soccer team went 1-1-1 over the past week to up their record to 4-3-2 and continue their amazing turnaround from their winless 2024 season.  Jacob Edmonds scored three goals and assisted on Colby Rafferty’s goal as the Vikings battled the St. Francis Fighting Saints to a 4-4 tie Monday, September 8 at North Branch High School.  The Vikings appeared to be in control of the game as they led 2-0 going into halftime. But the Fighting Saints scored four times in the second half as the Vikings hung on for a tie.  Edmonds scored both goals, one in each half, in the Vikings’ 2-1 win over the Big Lake Hornets at home on Thursday, September 11.  Brady Barie and Drew Peek each picked up an assist in the game.  And at St. Cloud Apollo High School on Monday, September 15, the Vikings led 2-0 going into halftime but gave up four goals in the second half and lost 4-3 to the Eagles.  Edmonds, Barie and Ryan Neumann each scored unassisted goals for the Vikings.

What is responsible for the Vikings’ resurgence after the winless campaign in 2024?  Viking head coach Chad Johnson said “Overall, it’s the mentality of the players.  We did lose six seniors after last season, and we were able to fill that in with six seniors who are legitimate starters and have a drive to win.

Johnson talked about some of the players who are keys to the turnaround.  He said “Jacob Edmonds has emerged as a star.  His goal for this year was 15 goals, and he is at 14 right now.  So, he has reset his goal to 20 goals.  Junior goalkeeper Jackson Puelston is in his second year as our starter.  He has been phenomenal, averaging about 15 saves a game. And the parent of one of our players played goalie in college and has stepped up to be a volunteer assistant goalie coach for us, which has helped Jackson and all the other keepers in our program.  Senior Brady Barie and junior Drew Peek have stepped up to control the midfield.  And at center back we’ve got a  great story in Spencer Miller.  Last year as a sophomore was his first year ever playing soccer, except maybe as a small child.  He is a neighbor of one of our other starters and decided to try soccer and has made incredible progress in a little over a year.  Another player to watch is freshman Ryan Neumann, who has an accurate long-distance shot.  He has chipped in two goals from over 30 yards out, with both goals sailing just over the goalkeepers’ hands and under the crossbar in the air.

One of the Vikings’ goals this year is to host a home playoff game.  At this point, the Vikings are second in the Section 7AA QRF rankings at Minnesota-scores.net, which would give them a home playoff game.

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