Esko-Carlton Nets 3-2 Victory Over Cloquet

Wes Vork-NSO

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Oct 8

Wes Vork-NSO

ESKO – The Esko-Carlton girls soccer team scored three goals to beat visiting Cloquet by a 3-2 score Thursday at Les Knute Field in Esko, avenging a 4-2 loss earlier in the season to the Lumberjacks.

Six of the previous seven matchups between these two clubs have ended in a tie. So, Thursday’s game had all of the makings of a great matchup from the start. The game did live up to its billing, just not in a back and forth fashion. Each team made a run with Cloquet scoring the first two goals and Esko-Carlton later making its run to score the final three. The 3-2 Eskomo victory snapped a nine game Lumberjack win streak.

Cloquet got on the board first with a Haley Basset goal in the 35th minute, which is how the game would remain going into halftime.

Lena Swander then scored for Cloquet ten minutes into the second half, giving the Lumberjacks a 2-0 lead. With the Jacks up by two and seemingly in control of the game, Esko-Carlton appeared lifeless. That, however, would change in a big way.

Esko-Carlton head coach Nicole Peterson chose to shake things up by changing her alignment, telling NSO, “We needed to create more pressure so we chose to go down to three defenders and add a third forward.” What made this move even bolder was the fact that the Eskomos had lost one of their best defenders, Jill Tomczak, to a leg injury in the first half.

The added pressure paid off when in the 62nd minute Amanda Bergstedt got life back into the Eskomos by letting loose with a nifty kick from the
right sidelines. The ball hooked and found its way to the far side of the Cloquet net, getting the Eskomos back in the game at trailing 2-1. Just 32 seconds later Tess Mattson scored when she pounced on a loose ball in front of the Cloquet net and scored to tie the game at 2 apiece.

At that point both teams had chances to break the deadlock. The re-energized Eskomos however chose to keep the pressure on with their three forward set. This gamble paid off when with 8:08 remaining in the game, Kate Marquis received a centering pass from Bergstedt and scored from 15 yards out in the center of the field, putting the Eskomos ahead for what would be the final margin of 3-2.

In what should be a very interesting meeting, seedings for the upcoming Section 7A playoffs will be determined on Friday with both Esko-Carlton and Cloquet making a good case for the number one seed, with the other virtually guaranteed the two seed.

The Eskomos have one regular season game left and will host Zimmerman at 4:00pm on Saturday. Cloquet has two regular season games left, hosting Denfeld at 10am on Saturday and Marshall at 4:00pm on Tuesday.

NSO will post the 7A girls soccer tournament seedings and schedule as soon as they become available.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com