Girls lacrosse: Effort not lacking in defeats

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Although victories have been difficult to come by, Farmington girls lacrosse coach Dan Pickens has been mostly pleased with his team’s effort this season.

Pickens got two more competitive showings from his squad last week, but the Tigers still slipped to 1-6 after home losses to Owatonna (13-6) and Chaska/Chanhassen (9-8) at Tiger Stadium.

Thursday’s one-goal loss to Chaska/Chanhassen ended in controversy when Haley Bradshaw’s game-tying goal was waived off after a foul call with under 10 seconds remaining. Bradshaw was then awarded a penalty shot, which was taken away after she was called for moving before the whistle. The Stormhawks retained possession and ran out the clock on their fifth win of the season.

“The call at the end of the game was unfortunate. However, all that changed was the outcome of the game, it didn’t change our effort and progress,” Pickens said. “We always talk about celebrating progress, and we have evidence that we have progressed as we just played a great game against a ranked team in the state after only a year and a half of having lacrosse in Farmington.”

The Tigers pulled ahead 8-5 on Ally Midboe’s goal with 12 minutes left, but Chaska/Chanhassen answered with three goals in the next seven minutes to tie the score. The Stormhawks scored the go-ahead goal with 1:28 remaining.

Junior Jessica Erchul stepped into a bigger role for the Tigers on the offensive end and finished with a season-high three goals. Bradshaw scored twice and Adrienne Jolicoeur, Midboe and Rachael Welzin each added goals.

“We changed around our offense a little bit and that created some more opportunities for Erchul to score,” Pickens said. “Midboe and Jolicoeur did a great job quarterbacking the offense and being patient with the ball.”

Kaitlyn Lacroix got the start in goal for the Tigers and stopped 18 of 27 shots.

Owatonna 13,

Farmington 6

Owatonna controlled the ball during the majority of its 13-6 road win at Tiger Stadium last Tuesday.

Pickens was pleased with his teams effort, but not with its aggressiveness, in the loss.

“We didn’t come out and play aggressive enough. We weren’t getting ground balls and didn’t win many draws,” he said. “That translates into ball possession time, which is a very big stat in lacrosse.”

Midboe and Bradshaw each scored two goals to lead the Tigers. Jolicoeur and Tia Jacoby each tacked on single goals.

The Tigers (1-6) are back in action tonight when they travel north to take on Minnnesota Southwest (4-3). The team is back at home tomorrow when it hosts Prior Lake (1-6) at Tiger Stadium.

Tags: girls lacrosse, sports, farmington, tigers, prep