By Nick Gerhardt
Northfield picked up its first win of the season 15-9 over conference rival Owatonna Thursday at Memorial Field in Northfield to maintain its upper hand in a tightly contested series.
Raiders senior attacker Blake Foster and junior attacker Cam Waters each scored four times to help lead the team to its fourth straight victory over the Huskies, dating back to a season sweep last season of three games against Owatonna.In 2021, the Huskies swept the season series while Northfield won both meeting in 2019 after Owatonna won both contests in 2018. The Raiders are hoping their latest win starts another streak after beginning the season 0-5. Northfield got scoring from all over as defenders Ty Frank and brothers Tristan and Wyatt Westgren each scored. Junior midfielder Cam Mellgren and ninth-grade midfielder George Peterson added two goals each.
The Raiders grabbed a 6-3 lead after a wild first quarter that saw them jump to a 3-0 advantage, only to see Owatonna (0-3) rally to tie the game 3-3 a little more than halfway through the quarter.
Northfield scored three times in the final four minutes for the three-goal lead after Foster scored his second goal and Peterson notched his two goals, including one with 0.04 seconds left in the quarter.
The Huskies and Raiders traded goals in the second quarter until Michael Heitkamp’s goal on the man advantage pulled Owatonna to within two at 8-6. Heitkamp led Owatonna with three goals, Jack Strom finished with two while Caleb Hullopeter, Joe Webster, Noah Gillespie and Porter Kuchenbecker each scored.
Northfield pulled away with a 5-0 run in the third quarter for a 13-6 lead before Heitkamp scored with 48 seconds left in the quarter to make it 13-7.
Foster notched his fourth goal with 8:17 left to make and Waters added his fourth with 5:44 left to push the lead to 15-7. Heitkamp scored his third on the man-advantage with less than five minutes to play and Strom scored with 1:06 left for the 15-9 final.
Trey Shimota picked up the win in goal for the Raiders after making some tremendous saves, including some point-blank shots.
Northfield faces Rochester Century next Friday in Rochester.
