U-17 soccer squad unbeaten
Published 12:00 am Friday, July 7, 2006
The Albert Lea U-17 C2 girls soccer team started its summer season June 7 with a home game against Rochester.&160;
The local team started the scoring early.&160; Four minutes into the game Brittni Lair connected on a pass from Leah Walters.&160;
The Albert Lea girls controlled most of the game in Rochester’s half of the field. &160;A corner kick from Jaclyn Rehmke to Shelby Vietze put Albert Lea up by two.&160;
Nicole Ball then ricocheted the ball off a Rochester defender and into the net for Albert Lea’s third goal. With seven minutes left to go, Rehmke played a short corner kick to Walters who
centered the ball to Connor Peterson for the final goal of the game making the score 4-0.&160; &160;
Winona made the trip to town June 12 to take on the team.&160; Albert Lea started the scoring at the five minute mark with Rehmke netting the goal on an assist from Amanda Arends.&160;
Albert Lea controlled the tempo for the next 30 minutes with Sophie Miller scoring from her defensive position by weaving through the Winona players and putting the ball in the net.&160;
Albert Lea committed a foul in the box giving Winona a penalty kick which it successfully converted.&160; Albert Lea then gave up its aggressive play for the next five minutes, giving Winona enough time to score the tying goal just before the half.&160;
Albert Lea came out strong in the second half with a lot of scoring opportunities but were unable to break the tie.&160; The game ended 2-2.&160; Steph Ferguson and Kendra Olchefske split time in goal for Albert Lea.
&160;On June 14, the team made the long trip to LaCrescent.&160; The local girls controlled the first half with Abbey Arends scoring on a Rehmke corner kick.&160;
The second half of play was back and forth between the two teams, but LaCrescent scored on a breakaway with four minutes left to tie the game.&160;
The Albert Lea team put on a furious finish for the final minutes with five shots just missing the net as the game ended in another tie.&160;Beth Niebuhr was in goal for Albert Lea.
Rochester was next on the schedule June 21 with the game taking place in Rochester.&160;
The local team was unable to establish a rhythm due to missing players and Rochester playing a defensive style.&160; The highlights came from the defensive play of Olchefske along with play-ups Sophie Miller and Morgan Stadheim.&160; Jessica Malepsy also stepped up from the U-15 team to play a strong game in goal.&160; After 90 minutes of play the game ended in a 0-0 tie.