Girls Lacrosse: A couple of heart-breakers

Rachael Welzin 4 goals, assists in two games (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The weather was a lot better than at the opening game of the season but the results were similar as the Tigers dropped a pair of squeakers to Rochester Century and Burnsville this weekend.

Friday night Century netted two goals in overtime to pull out a 7-5 win at Tiger Stadium and less than 24 hours later the Blaze eked out a 10-9 victory in Burnsville to keep the Tigers winless in three starts this season.

"It is early in the season and we haven’t gotten to work full field much, so it is tough to get out there and have too high of expectations," coach Dan Pickens said.  "We are still gelling as a team and need to find the right combination of players and work all of the field."

Century led 4-3 at the halftime break on Friday and eventually won it by scoring twice in the first of two three-minute overtime sessions.

"We could never quite get started in the overtime," Pickens said. "We have got to play better than that."

Shelby Klotz scored two of the five Farmington goals with Rachael Welzin, Becky Genzler and Ashley Steffes also finding the mark for the Tigers. Steffes'' goal was the first of her varsity career.

Welzin, Michaela Tonasger and Jessica Herrera each had assists for Farmington. Tiger goalie Maddie Kohkbeck finished with 12 saves.

Ashley Steffes first 3 varsity goals (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Burnsville game was close throughout with the Blaze leading 5-4 at the halftime break before stretching the advantage to 9-6 with 8:30 remaining in regulation.

At that point Pickens called a timeout to plot a comeback strategy.


"We talked about our ability to comeback and how important it was to support each other and have a winning attitude," he said.

The pep talk paid dividends as the Tigers roared back with three unanswered scores to tie the count with 1:21 remaining. But the Blaze had enough heat for one last  goal, netting the game-winner with 21 seconds to play.

"It was a tough one for our girls to swallow because they battled so hard against a good team," Pickens said.

Klotz and Welzin each recorded a hat trick in the losing effort and Steffes ran her her week's total to three with two more scores. Kaeli Halverson netted the other Farmington goal. Kylee Glen had two assists and Tonsager one.

Kohlbeck faced 22 shots and finished with 10 saves for a two-game total of 22.

The Tigers return to action Tuesday night with a home game against Holy Angels.

For more of Jim Lindquist's photos from the Century game visit https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.496503133731802.1073741829.134625986586187&type=1