1 week Ago By Maxwell Marko
GRAND FORKS — Both Grand Forks girls soccer teams were looking to stay undefeated Saturday night and they weren’t going to give anything away. A 0-0 draw was the result of a physical bout between 6-0-1 Red River and 3-0-3 Central at Cushman Field. ADVERTISEMENT Plays were broken up quickly as both sides went back and forth in the middle of the pitch.
Red River goalie Aila Effhauser and Central goalie Hailey Anderson-Tibiatowski picked up shutouts. The Roughriders came into the match looking to extend their lead atop the East Region whereas Central, despite not losing a contest this season, was looking to gain ground and push out of fourth place. As the clock ticked down in the second half, there was no temptation to overextend and leave room for a mistake to cost a team a first loss.
“Ten minutes left, 0-0, we’re still trying to push,” Central head coach George DuBois said. “As the ball shifts down to our end with two minutes left, 90 seconds left, we just needed to get out. It’s all situational.
” The majority of play in the first half came in the Central end of the center line. Chances were very limited on both sides, but the most dangerous play came off the foot of Norah Presteng of the Knights. She found herself with a loose ball inside the crease that she sent off the crossbar.
That was until less than a minute left in the half. Red River's Taylor Hodny chased down a defender on a runaway pass and stole the ball for a look all alone at the corner of the crease. She beat Anderson-Tiabiatowski but the try hit the outside of the net.
“I think there is a reason both the Grand Forks teams are the two undefeated teams. That is a very good team over there,” Red River coach Jason Heydt said. ADVERTISEMENT There was one corner kick in the second half and two free kicks from inside 60 feet but that was the extent of suspense on the pitch, though Central made pushes.
Shot attempts came from a distance, but were swallowed up by goaltenders. “I feel like we did a better job testing their back line in the second half than we did in the first half. We tried to match our speed with that back line,” DuBois said.
Central now has 12 points to put the Knights in a tie for third with 4-1-0 Davies. Both teams are five points back of Red River..
