U-17 soccer boys take the title in Burnsville tourney

Published 12:00 am Thursday, June 26, 2003

BURNSVILLE &045; The sun was hot, the games were long and tempers flared, but the teamwork came through as the Albert Lea U-17 boys’ soccer team captured the first-place trophy at the 25th Annual Burnsville Invitational.

The first game had Albert Lea easily winning 7-0 against Burnsville with Jeremy Jacobson scoring three goals and Brady Plantage, Shane Tukua, Jacob Clark and Justin McGinnis each scoring one.

Next up was a 3-0 win over Edina with Nate Lombardi scoring twice and Jacobson once.

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Early morning games don’t usually go well for Albert Lea but the 8 a.m. Sunday game against Rochester had Albert Lea winning 2-0 with McGinnis and Jacobson scoring.

The championship game ended in a rematch with Edina, which didn’t want a repeat of the earlier game and came out tough and giving it their all.

Jacobson scored first for Albert Lea, but the team couldn’t seem to settle down and work together. Edina managed to score early in the second half and seemed to take control of the game.

After a water break midway through the second half, when assistant coach Chris Jacobson gave the boys a pep talk, the team came out with a new frame of mind.

Clark scored the second goal for Albert Lea and midfielders and defenders Plantage, Ben Frayne, McGinnis, Kurtis Bohrnstedt, Tukua, Conner Keyeski, Jake Levisen, Logan Schallock, Andy Stapleton, Joe Squires, Mitch Kortz, and Ethan Berg regained control of the field and turned back every attempt Edina made to score.

Tyler Weise had an excellent weekend in goal all four games and only allowed the one goal.

Dustin Boyer and Brett Plantage are also members of the team but were unable to be at the tournament.

The U-17 boys are halfway through their summer season with a record of 4-1-1 in regular play. They won 3-0 against Bloomington No. 2, 5-1 against Burnsville, 6-1 against Rochester and 5-0 against LaCrosse. The team lost 3-2 to Bloomington No. 1 and tied Dakota Rev 0-0.

The Albert Lea team also competed in another tournament at Dakota Rev in May, where the locals won their first two games 2-0 against Dakota Rev and 1-0 against Tonka United but lost their third game 2-1 to Sibley. Albert Lea finished third in the tournament.

So far Albert Lea has scored 39 goals and have given up seven with goalies Berg and Weise both doing an outstanding job.

The team is coached by Lowell Jacobson with assistants Dave Squires and Chris Jacobson. The team has six games left in regular season play and then will move on to district play.