25 August 2013

Girls Soccer: Tigers runner-up at Prior Lake

Kelly Kornmann 2 goals vs. Hill-Murray (photo by Jim Lindquist)
Farmington won one and lost one to finish second at the four-team Prior Lake Invitational held over the weekend.

The Tigers opened their season Friday with an impressive 4-0 shutout of Hill-Murray. In Saturday's championship game they were on the receiving end of a 2-0 whitewash by Prior Lake.

"Given the loss, we played well against a good team," first year coach Tracie Randall said. "Last year they beat us 7-0 in the championship game, so we have made progress."

Randall said her team showed a few nerves in the first half of the Hill-Murray contest as well as having some problems executing its 4-4-3 offense. Still, they hit the halftime break on top 1-0 thanks to a goal by Kali Adriano-Allard.

"We changed things up nicely in the second half," Randall said."We went to to a 3-5-2 formation to add extra strength in the middle and provide for more opportunities up top."

The adjustment paid dividends as Kelly Kornmann scored twice and Adriano-Allard added her second of the night to account for the final margin of victory.

Goalkeeper Ashley Becker, who posted 10 shutouts last season, recorded her first of the 2013 season.

Prior Lake got a friendly bounce to score its first goal with three minutes to play before the end of the first half and added another score on a penalty kick after the break in the championship game.

"Two unlucky goals," Randall said, "but if we can hang with Prior Lake we can hang with some of the best teams in our conference."

The Tigers will face another South Suburban Conference team Tuesday when they travel to Lakeville South for a non-conference contest.

Ashley Becker 1st shutout of 2013 season (photo by Jim Lindquist)