Trio leads Otters past Willmar 3-1

By Jeff Hage (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Chelsey Enderle and Liz Underwood scored second-half goals to lead Fergus Falls past Willmar 3-1 in Central River Conference action Tuesday night at Fergus Falls.

The Otters took a 1-1 tie into halftime after Katlyn Swedberg passed the ball across the goal to Kaitlyn McClaflin who beat the Willmar goalkeeper at the nine minute mark.

“In the first 15 min of the game Fergus Falls controlled the possession of the ball making Willmar run all over to try and get it back,” said Coach Karoline Brause.

Willmar stepped up the pressure and scored a goal at the 36-minute mark at the end of the first half when a 25-yard shot sailed over the hands of Otter goalie Amber Hovland.

In the second half the Otters rarely allowed Willmar across the half line, Brause said.

The result: Two more goals by the Otters.

Ten minutes into the second half Enderle ran past Willmar's defenders on a thru ball and beat the goalkeeper low. The Otters scored the final goal at the 60-min mark of the game when Erika Magnusson beat the outside defender and sent in a cross pass from the left that Underwood sent into the back of the net.

“We came out harder tonight,” Brause said.

“We let down a little bit by the end of the first half but made up for it by the high level of play in the second half,” she said.

The Otters put 19 shots on the Willmar goal. Willmar goalie Chelsey Wiercshem had 16 saves. Underwood led with six shots on goal.

“Getting our offense to click like that is great to see this early in the year and it is nice to see the team creating those opportunities to get on the board,” Brause said.

Willmar had only seven shots on goal and just two in the second half. Otter keeper Amber Hovland made 6 saves.

“Once again, our back four (Swenson, Rausch, Kosak, Ellingson, Cole, Okerstrom) played tremendous,” Brause said. “We switched our formation to a 4-3-3 which allowed us to get more people on the attack on offense.”

“Give credit to all the girls that played midfield (Vogt, Magnusson, Underwood, Miller, McClaflin) because there was a lot more responsibilty for them,” she said.

McClaflin has three goals on the year. Enderle has two goals and one assist. Katlyn Swedberg has one goal and two assists.

Notes: The JV team won 2-0. Shannon Anderson scored with an assist from Kelley Hohman. Taylor McClaflin scored the second.

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