HOLLANDALE &045; The annual Hollandale Soccer Invitational was held Sept. 24.

With temperatures on the cool side to start, the Hollandale Christian School seventh and eighth-graders kicked off the tournament against St. Paul’s Lutheran School of Latimer, Iowa.

Midway through the first half, HCS jumped out to a 1 -0 lead behind a goal by Matthew Reed. Near the end of the half, HCS took a 2-0 lead with a goal from Caylee Tennis. Hollandale completed its 3-1 victory with a second-half goal by Laura Gaudian.

A new team from Winona was welcomed this year, St. Martin’s Elementary, part of Hope Lutheran. St. Martin’s took on Kanawha Christian School and won 3-1.

HCS then took the field against Timothy Christian School of Wellsburg, Iowa. With a hard fought

scoreless first half, HCS came out ready in the second half but, despite great team play, fell 2-0.

Timothy met St. Martin’s and battled to a scoreless tie. Kanawha fell 2-1 to Latimer.

HCS came back out to face St. Martin’s and again had terrific teamwork and great play, only to fall 1 -0 on a late goal with three minutes remaining.

Timothy finished off Latimer in the last meeting, 2-0.

The tournament wrapped with a match between HCS and Kanawha. There was a lot of sunshine and fun as Tennis and Gaudian each netted another goal and Hollandale won 2-0 to finish the day 2-2.

Excellent teamwork was noticeable throughout the day from all involved and the HCS offense distributed the ball more efficiently than any other in recent memory. The competition was closer than the tournament has seen in some time, with so many evenly matched teams allowing for a terrific day of soccer. The weather cooperated and there was a nice turnout.