By Simon Lippert
The Raider Boys Soccer team blew past the Winona Winhawks 5-2 on Senior night at Memorial
Field.
On a cool rainy night in Northfield the Raiders 6-7 (4-6 Big 9) controlled the game from the
opening whistle. They put instant pressure on the Winhawks 2-11-1 (2-8-1 Big 9) by a shot on
goal from senior Gabe Heinritz then minutes later broke through with their first goal of the game.
Senior Stephen Kallestad found the back of the net on a ball played out from goalkeeper Zach
Breiland in the 12th minute to make it 1-0 Raiders. Despite the Raiders fast start and controlling
most of the possession just three minutes after the first goal the Winhawks scored off a free kick
to tie the score at 1-1.
After about ten minutes of back and forth action the Raiders scored
again. Kallestad found the ball at his feet a little past midfield, saw senior striker Manny Ramirez
streaking across the field and played him a ball through the defense that Ramirez put past the
goalie into the net making the score 2-1 Raiders. Then, not even twenty seconds later, junior
midfielder Tait Narveson stole the ball from a Winhawks player at midfield took a few dribbled
and made a beautiful pass through the middle to Stephen Kallestad who was able to run onto it
perfectly and put it into the right side of the net and suddenly the Raiders were up 3-1.
Now with eight minutes left to play in the first half the Winhawks were able to respond yet again. The ball
was kicked into the box off a corner and after a few deflections the Winhawks were able to score
off a header making it 3-2, but the scoring in the first half still wasn’t done. With two minutes left
to play the Raiders were pressuring the Winhawks back line and eventually found a seam.
Senior Elliot Pontow found Narveson at the top of the box who played a hard ball with his left
foot to the right of the goalie who wasn’t able to handle the slippery ball and the Raiders found
themselves up 4-2 at the half.
The Rain continued to come down during the second half making it difficult for both teams to
move the ball and it seemed to slow the pace at times. After the high scoring first half both
teams settled down. The Raiders continued to pressure the Winhawks side of the field and
controlled the majority of the possession. They had a couple chances on goal in the box by
Kallestad and Garrison Giza and Manny Ramirez also had an opportunity to cash in on a shot
outside of the box. Finally the Raiders broke through with twelve minutes left in the second half.
Senior Gabe Heinritz ran down the ball after a deflection on a Winhawks corner, Heinritz looked
up and found Ramirez who quickly tapped it over to Kallestad. Kallestad took a few dribbles and
found Narveson streaking down the left side of the field. Narveson ran by the Winhawks
defense and tapped it over to Ramirez who made a great run into the middle of the box and was
easily able to tap it in. This offense possession by the Raiders was easily the best of the night
and capped off an impressive performance by the Raiders on Senior Night.
The Raiders will finish off their season on Thursday away against Faribault.