By Nick Gerhardt
Northfield emerged with its first victory of the season Monday with a 14-10 win over Rochester John Marshall at Memorial Field in Northfield following a furious second half.
In a one-goal game with 8 minutes, 51 seconds left to play in the third quarter, the Raiders (1-1, 1-0 Big 9) pulled away by scoring five of the game’s final seven goals.
The Rockets (0-1) nearly erased a four-goal deficit to start the second half by scoring the first three goals to pull to within 9-8. But Gwen Tapper’s fourth goal of the game with 8:22 to go in the third quarter gave Northfield a 10-8 cushion.
Linda Perez extended the lead to 11-8 with a goal that came with 7:07 to play in the third quarter.
Rochester John Marshall got a goal back with 6:37 to go in the third and found another with 10:45 to go in the fourth quarter to make it 11-10 before the Raiders ran away with the victory.
Clare Homan scored with 5:37 to play to build a 12-10 lead. Jaiden Schiller and Natalia Trevino Avila each scored in the final 1:35 for the 14-10 final.
Tapper led Northfield with four goals. Schiller scored twice and Perez finished with three goals. Kellie O’Meara and Lola McCarty also recorded goals.
The Raiders gained control of the game in the second quarter that saw a total of nine goals scored between the teams. Tapper scored three of her four goals, including two in the final 35 seconds to build a 9-5 lead.
Northfield trailed 3-2 after the first quarter but scored the first five goals of the second quarter to take a 7-3 lead before trading goals with the Rockets.
The win provided a nice bounce back for the Raiders following a season-opening 17-2 loss to Lakeville North Saturday in Northfield. The Raiders will face St. Paul Academy Friday at 7:15 p.m. at Memorial Field.