By Nick Gerhardt
Northfield rallied late but couldn’t overcome a four-goal deficit Tuesday in the home opener at Memorial Field at Northfield High School in an 11-10 loss to Rochester Century.
The Raiders (0-2, 0-1 Big 9) trailed 11-7 with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left to play after Panthers senior attacker Owen Hemmingson scored his fifth goal of the game to cap a 4-0 run that broke a 7-7 third-quarter tie.
Northfield scored three times in the final 2:35 to make it interesting as senior attacker Blake Foster, junior midfielder Cam Mellgren and freshman George Peterson scored. Peterson’s goal came with 24.8 seconds left but the Raiders might reflect on the chances that ricocheted off the post. Northfield hit four posts in the game as one of those chances could’ve made a difference.
Mellgren finished with three goals while Peterson and Riley each had two goals. Cam Waters and Tristan Westgren also tallied goals.
The Raiders grabbed a 4-2 lead in the first quarter after Mellgren notched his first of the game with 50.1 seconds left in the quarter. Riley gave Northfield a 1-0 lead just 41 seconds into the game and Waters made it 2-2 after Rochester Century scored back-to-back goals that came 21 seconds apart.
The Panthers led 5-4 briefly in the second quarter after a three-goal flurry erased a two-goal deficit. The Raiders and Rochester Century traded goals the rest of the period to end the first half in a 6-6 tie.
Westergren gave Northfield a 7-6 lead with 7:18 to play in the third quarter before the Panthers started their 4-0 run.
The Raiders will try for their first win Thursday when they face Lakeville North in Northfield at Memorial Field at 7:30 p.m. Thursday’s game vs Lakeville North will also be streamed on NorthfieldLive. We apologize for the tech difficulties on Monday night.
