It took Moorhead all of 21 seconds to take the lead over Brainerd in the new girls’ lacrosse season.
Abby Kurpius scored one of her three goals for the Spuds right after the game started to help them beat the Warriors 8-5 Thursday, April 15, at Adamson Field in Brainerd.
Moorhead scored its second goal with 19:02 left in the first half and third 37 seconds later to grab a 3-0 lead.
“I was really proud of my girls for playing with 100% intensity the entire game,” Moorhead head coach Kaitlin Rude said. “I think that plays into how we scored those goals within 30 seconds of the game. We just came out ready to play.”
Brainerd responded with a goal by Breya Sawyer with 13:18, but a minute later Kurpius notched her second goal to put the Spuds back up by three.
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Grace Aadland tallied two first-half goals for Brainerd. Her first coming right after Kurpius’ second goal with 10:49 left in the first half. Aadland’s second goal came with less than two minutes left in the first half and cut Moorhead’s lead to 6-4 headed into the break.
“Grace showed a lot of composure on offense,” first-year Warrior head coach Tina Nagel said. “She was holding it. She was waiting for the right opportunity. She was really good on her efficiency and not throwing it away.”
Kurpius scored her third goal with 7:52 left in the first half which put the Spuds up 6-2. The Warriors scored the last two goals of the first half with Brynne Folden getting one before Aadland’s second goal.
“I never questioned whether their passion has been there,” Nagel said. “It’s a great thing to know that everyone is playing with a lot of heart.”
In a low-scoring second half, Moorhead scored two goals in the first six minutes.
Mya Malusky scored her second goal for the Spuds three minutes in and Ava Dunnigan added her second goal with 19:34 left to give Moorhead an 8-4 lead.
After a timeout, Brainerd cut into the four-goal deficit when Avery Mulholland scored with 6:43 left.
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Brainerd’s Macy Peterson recorded 13 saves to keep the contest close.
“Macy really kept us in this game today,” Nagel said. “There’s a lot more communication that needs to happen on our defense, so we can take better care of her.”
Moorhead’s goalie Grace Davis tallied seven saves with the Spuds’ defense only allowing one goal in the second half.
“In the first half, we were looking a little sloppy,” Rude said. “One thing we do is we run a zone. Our zone on our defensive end is really strong and so I kind of reminded them that they know what they are doing and it comes down to the nitty gritty things. We noticed on Brainerd that they were sticking a girl in the middle, so we mentioned that and that kind of shut them down from there.”
Brainerd will be on the road for the first time Monday, April 19, against St. Cloud.
“I see a lot of growth opportunities out here,” Nagel said. “It was a tough loss, but there’s a lot of potential here and a lot of good things to take away. The fixes are very fixable.
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“We just need to play a little smarter. We talked about some of our mistakes being very simple. As long as we take more control of thinking about our actions and calming down we will be in a good spot for the rest of the season.”
Moorhead 6 2 — 8
Brainerd 4 1 — 5
First half: M-Abby Kurpius 24:39, M-Ava Dunnigan 19:02, M-Sydney Martinson 18:25, Brd-Breya Sawyer 13:18, M-Abby Kurpius 12:04, Brd-Grace Aadland 10:49, M-Mya Malusky 8:06, M-Abby Kurpius 7:52, Brd-Brynne Folden 4:58, Brd-Grace Aadland 1:41
Second half: M-Mya Malusky 22:01, M-Ava Dunnigan 19:34, Brd-Avery Mulholland 6:43
Shots on goal: Brd 12, M 21
Goalies: Brd-Macy Peterson (13 saves); M-Grace Davis (7 saves)
Moorhead 8, Warriors 5
Key: Moorhead scored six in the first half to hang on and beat Brainerd in the opener.
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Overall: Brd 0-1.
Next: Brainerd at St. Cloud 7 p.m. Monday, April 19.
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.
