The second place U-17 C-2 girls’ Elks soccer team traveled to league leading Hastings on July 10.

Albert Lea scored early and often winning 5-1.

Albert Lea scored first on a Nicole Ball goal with the assists going to Amanda Arends and Leah Walters.

Hastings, 9-1, not used to being behind, became very physical.

The teams battled back and forth until the 44th minute when Walters struck a ball in the upper corner of the goal on a pass from Connor Peterson.

The second half started with Hastings scoring a quick goal.

Then Kendra Olchefske took over, shutting out Hastings while the Albert Lea offense put the game out of reach.

Albert Lea’s first goal of the half was scored by Brittni Lair with assists going to Walters and Ball.

Walters recorded her third assist of the game, when she centered a long ball and Emma Dahl scored a picture perfect goal taking the ball out of the air and into the net.

Abbey Arends ended the scoring with Peterson tallying her second assist.

Olchefske had many brilliant saves while defenders Samantha Overgaard, Elyce Rehmke, Jaclyn Rehmke, and play-up Ashley Trail all had remarkable performances.

The Hastings defense had allowed a total of only five goals in its previous nine games.

The result was a reversal of the game the two teams played

June 29.

Hastings tallied a couple of quick goals before Albert Lea settled in to play.

The final 80 minutes were played very evenly with the final score 2-0 as Albert Lea was unable to mount the comeback.

On July 5, the U-17 C-2 team traveled to Woodbury with both teams playing short handed, Woodbury was looking for a different outcome than its 5-0 loss to Albert Lea earlier.

Playing a defensive game, Woodbury held the Albert Lea team scoreless in the first half.

Ten minutes into the second half Walters scored on a give and go from Lair.

Jaclyn Rehmke, Elyce Rehmke and Heather Greibrok filled in at the defensive positions turning in tremendous performances. AL would claim the victory 1-0.

On July 8, the LaCrescent/LaCrosse team made the long trip to battle the second place Albert Lea team.

The game had been rescheduled twice due to player conflicts but even that didn’t help as the Albert Lea team had to move some players to different positions but still ended up with only one substitute, while LaCrescent/LaCrosse had seven.

Playing in a steady rain, Albert Lea moved the ball very well but couldn’t put it in the net, finishing with a scoreless first half.

With about 10 minutes remaining in the game, a LaCrescent pass deflected off another player and went into the net giving them the 1-0 win.

Elyce Rehmke and Jill Freeman both had strong games, playing in multiple positions with very little rest. Arends and Peterson handled the slippery ball well turning in strong performances at midfield.

The U-17 C-2 girls’ team ended its successful season with a 5-2-3 record which was good enough for second place.

The girls scored 20 goals with 11 different players scoring and eight different players assisting on goals.

The defense only gave up seven goals and posted five shutouts.

Head coach Lee Walters was assisted by Jeff Miller and Brad Niebuhr.

The girls would like to thank the following play-ups for making their season a success with a limited number of players.

The U-17 C-3 players are: Sophie Miller, Morgan Stadheim, Steph Ferguson, Ashley Trail, Abbey Arends, Miranda Shepard and Maddie Passingham. U-15 C-2 players Jenna Christensen, Jessica Malepsy, Heather Greibrok and Ashley Stewart.