Detroit Lakes’ Boys Soccer Winning Streak Ends at Three Games

DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – The Alexandria Cardinals entered play on Saturday winless in their previous two and hungry to get back in the win column. The Cardinals applied steady pressure throughout and came away with a 2-0 win at Rotary Soccer Complex in Detroit Lakes.

The Cardinals peppered Laker goalie Evan Thomas in the 1st and 2nd halves, unofficially recording 19 shots on goal. The Cardinals scored their first goal of the game with 25 minutes left in the first half when Alexandria defender Bryce Paffarth struck the ball from 25 yards out and connected on a backdoor feed to attacker Otto Anderson. Anderson beat Thomas on his right side to give the Cardinals a lead, a lead they never relinquished. Throughout the first half, the Lakers had difficulties cutting through the Cardinal defense as Alexandria brought tight, steady pressure to suffocate the Lakers’ attack.

The Cardinals scored an insurance goal in the opening minutes of the second half when Dylan Hendricks took a shot from just outside of 18-yards that changed direction before it found the goal. Despite giving up two goals, goalkeeper Thomas was DL’s MVP as he made many great saves to keep the score within range. The Lakers were able to only record four shots on goal.

The loss snaps DL’s winning streak at three games. The winning streak included an impressive win against Pelican Rapids last Thursday. However, that win against Pelican Rapids came at a cost as the Lakers came into Saturday’s afternoon game at less than 100 percent with injuries beginning to pile up. The Lakers discovered that one of their top defenders, Gannon Braun, will miss the rest of the season due to a collarbone injury, and several of their other starters were playing injured on Saturday.

The loss drops DL’s record to 4-2 on the season. The Cardinals earn a section victory and improve to 3-1-1.

The Lakers will need to get healthy and stay healthy to keep their season’s hot start going, as they have challenging games this week. On Tuesday, they travel to Bemidji. Thursday, they battle East Grand Forks; on Saturday, they head to St. Cloud to take on Apollo.