2 weeks Ago By Michael Lyne
WILLMAR — After a back-and-forth first half, the Willmar boys soccer team dialed it in in the second half to beat Rocori on Thursday evening. Willmar scored a pair of goals in the final 40 minutes to earn a 2-0 shutout win against the Spartans in the Central Lakes Conference matchup. The Cardinals improve to 6-1-1 in the conference and are 7-1-3 overall.
Rocori is 2-4-0 in conference play and 4-5-0 overall. “We played an inspired second half,” Willmar head coach Jeff Winter said. “We talked about how every game from here on out is influential in the QRF (rankings).
” Mubashir Muse sprung Willmar into a 1-0 lead in the 54th minute. The junior midfielder knocked a header into the back of the net off of a corner kick by Hermis Alvarado Reyes in a match where the Cardinals totaled 14 corner kicks.“It was very nice,” Winter said of Muse’s go-ahead goal.
It was Wilman Enamorado who added an insurance goal for Willmar. The junior midfielder beat out Rocori’s goalkeeper in a race for the ball in the box off of a long free kick by Alvarado Reyes at the 73-minute mark. “Wilman worked hard for that one,” Winter said.
“It was a long run.” The Cardinals host St. Cloud Tech for a CLC matchup at 7 p.
m. Thursday at Willmar. “Luckily, we don’t have a game between now and then,” Winter said.
“I think it’s going to be a good one. “We always have good matches with (Tech), regardless of records. I’m glad it’s at home.
” Boys Willmar 2, Rocori 0 Melrose 3, CMCS 0 The Dutchmen’s three-goal second half lifted them to a shutout win against Central Minnesota Christian School at Melrose. Fredy Garcia, Alonso Montanez and Carlos Becerra Montanez each scored for Melrose.The Bluejays go to Pelican Rapids at 1 p.
m. Saturday. Girls Willmar 3, Rocori 2 Willmar got a quick response to knot things up and never trailed the rest of the way en route to a victory against Rocori at Cold Spring.
After the Spartan’s Emelia Terwey capitalized in the opening minute of the contest, Willmar’s Keianna Hillenbrand found the back of the net a minute later to make it a 1-1 tie. From there, Telilie Lange scored back-to-back goals in the 15th and 43rd minutes to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead. The junior midfielder’s first tally came on a free kick from 25 yards out.
“It was a big win for us,” Willmar head coach Madeline Wertish said. “We’re able to respond and get a clean slate.” Terwey potted her second goal of the night in the 45th minute before Willmar’s defense, led by the likes of Jennifer Padilla-Guevara and Isabella Paulson, shut the door.
Willmar goes to Becker for a non-conference matchup at 2 p.m. Saturday.
It marks the first of four games over the next seven days for the Cardinals. “We’re really making sure we’re taking care of each other,” Wertish said. “We’ll take it (each game) as it comes.
”.
