Soccer splits week's matches

After going the first three weeks of September without a loss, the West Fargo Packers finally dropped one, losing 2-1 to the Eastern Dakota Conference-leading Fargo Shanley Deacons last Tuesday, but responded quickly by shutting out the Grand Forks Central Knights 4-0 on Thursday night.

The Packers went into their match against Shanley tied with the Deacons for first in the conference with 15 points (two points for every win, one for a tie) on the season.

The Deacons started off strong, with forward Conrad Hager scoring a goal in the first minute. Hager scored another goal in the 29th minute of the first half to give Shanley a 2-0 lead at halftime.

The Packers' buckled down defensively in the second half, not allowing another Shanley goal and even getting a goal from senior forward Lucas Miller.

Keeper Nathan Sample stopped seven shots on goal.

The Packers bounced back in a big way on Thursday night.

Miller served as the spark plug for the team, scoring two goals (with assists coming from Brady Rotert and Daniel Brown) in the first twenty minutes.

Brown chipped in a goal of his own 34 minutes in, and senior Derek Dreher scored one (assist from Miller) shortly before halftime.

The Packers move to 11-3-2 on the season and 8-2-1 in the EDC. Their total of 17 points is good enough for second place in the conference behind the 19-point total of Shanley.

West Fargo has one more regular-season match. They will face off against the Fargo South Bruins tomorrow night before playoffs begin on October 11.