BRAINERD — Playing back-to-back days, head coach Mata Agre was proud of how the Brainerd Warriors played against one of the tougher teams in Chisago Lakes.
The Wildcats came in undefeated and beat the Warriors 11-5 at Adamson Field Friday, May 5.
“Quite honestly, this might be the best game we’ve played this week,” Agre said. “We played really well and there is a really good team over there and people did not like our chances to get this win. We pushed them and made them work for that win. Obviously, it’s a loss, but I honestly think it was one of our best games of the year.”
Brainerd, who beat Becker Thursday night 8-6, scored the first goal to take a 1-0 lead 2:45 into the contest. It was Lydia Olson who found the net to give Brainerd the early lead.
Chisago Lakes came back with three straight goals to take a lead with 15 minutes left in the first half.
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Breya Sawyer made it a one-goal game with a goal with 11:30 left, but the Wildcats scored two more times to take a 5-2 lead into halftime.
Chisago Lakes extended its lead to start the second half with two goals in the first minute and a half.
Brainerd battled back, however, and Alexis Aspinwall scored two goals for the Warriors in a span of one minute to make it 7-4 with 20 minutes left.
“Alexis does a great job,” Agre said. “Breya tends to have a lot of people guarding her on a lot of those goals. Alexis played really well today. She tends to take a lot of passes. She can catch the ball and in the blink of an eye, it’s a goal. Her cuts to get open and to be ready are great.”
Aspinwall’s goals gave the Warriors a little life.
“We were ready to fight,” Agre said. “Our defense really played some shutdown defense. Alexis got two goals there back-to-back which helped us get close. We weren’t able to finish it off, but we still played a good game.”
Chisago Lakes scored the next three goals to put the game away. Skylar Wells netted a hat trick for the Wildcats with her third coming with 8:42 left to put her team ahead 10-4.
Brainerd’s Lila Collins scored with five minutes left and Chisago Lakes’ Kamryn Peterson added her second goal with two minutes left.
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Agre was really impressed with the Warriors’ defense. Macy Peterson notched 24 saves in net for Brainerd.
“It felt like our defense was really clicking yesterday,” Agre said. “That’s what we’ve been waiting for and we have five really strong defenders that can all play that one-on-one defense. They did today. They shut them down until we made a mistake, but we played good one-on-one defense.”
With the loss, the Warriors moved to 2-4. They’ll head on the road for the first time Tuesday, May 9, when they play Sartell/Sauk Rapids.
“I think we are excited to go on the road,” Agre said. “We look forward to the bus rides and the team bonding that happens when you are on the road. We have away games next week.
“We’ve seen it all. We’ve seen tough teams and teams we can handle. We’ve seen teams who are better than us and we played them hard. It’s been a good balance.”
Chisago Lakes 5 6 — 11
Brainerd 2 3 — 5
First half: Brd-Lydia Olson 22:15, CL-Skylar Wells 19:02, CL-Evi Reedy 16:05, CL-Wells 15:39, Brd-Breya Sawyer 11:30, CL-Kamryn Peterson 9:30, CL-Naomi Eaton 6:50
Second half: CL-Lauren Schmidt 24:15, CL-Camryn Hinsch 23:32, Brd-Alexis Aspinwall 21:11, Brd-Aspinwall 20:20, CL-Kaianna Senne 19:58, CL-Eaton 16:42, CL-Wells 8:42, Brd-Lila Collins 5:08, CL-Peterson 2:11
Goalies: B-Macy Peterson (24 saves)
Overall: Brd 2-4. Next: Brainerd at Sartell/Sauk Rapids 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 9.
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.
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