The Pirates ran into some stiff competition to open the season Monday in Grand Forks Central. The Knights, who were playing in their fifth game of the season, recorded four goals in each half on their way to an 8-0 victory.
Jake Purpur and Brett Lofthus each recorded hat tricks for Grand Forks Central.
"Lots of factors played into this game--their 5th game of the season and our first game; their size and speed and our short stature and youthfulness, we have a totally new lineup--our 6 returning starters from last year are all playing new roles this year and our midfield and defense is all totally new. Many of these guys are up from JV last year, so they are trying to get their bearings," said Pirate Head Coach Don Cox.
Purpur started the scoring two minutes into the game and Lofthus made it 2-0 about five minutes later. Both would each score another goal to make it 4-0 going into the half.
The back and forth battle between Purpur and Lofthus continued into the second half as both scored to put the Knights up 6-0. Cody Lundeed and Dylan Peycke added the final two goals.
The Pirate offense struggled to get a solid shot on the Knight net as they were double and triple teamed most of the game.
"For offense, Ross, Josh, Scott and Pedro were starting to get their rythym toward the end of the game--making good passes and setting up attacks, but they were all tired by then and couldn't make the runs like they wanted to. We need to get the mids up there and keep at least four guys on the attack at all times," said Cox.
Pirate senior goalkeeper Andy Shafer recorded 14 saves in the game, while Central's Ben Lofgren had three saves.
Shafer played an aggressive game in net for the Pirates but Coach Cox noted that he had to put pressure on such a good offensive team like the Knights.
"He played well, did come out more aggressively than usual, but that was necessary because our defenders were losing tabs on the attackers and so he was trying to rush the shot to make them miss--good tactics, but not as effective as we had hoped for. We'll get our defense back up to par here this week and he'll be fine," he said.
Coach Cox his squad will work hard on improving in practice and will be better by the next game.
"Overall, they did a good job, we have some work to do--improve our speed and endurance, get our midfield more involved in both offense and defense and toughen-up our defenders," said Coach Cox. "We'll start that process at practice and, if all goes well for us, we should see improvement on Friday when we play Detroit Lakes."
The Pirates will travel to Detroit Lakes for a game time at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
