Coach Armstrong talks girls soccer

When we just start playing simple, we play really well. When we try to push things then we fall into bad habits and turn the ball over. So as long as we just stay with our gameplan, we're good.”

Head Coach Paul Armstrong

Coach Swanson discusses boys soccer strategy

But overall, the first half was good, and we came out with some heart and the second half and scored the first goal. That's exactly what we were going for.”

Head Coach Jamie Swanson

Both teams face Simley on Oct. 5. The boys play at 5:00 p.m. and the girls at 7:00 p.m. Then the girls take on Farmington on Oct. 7 at noon.

As of Monday, both Raider soccer teams have three games left in their regular season. The boys are 2-10-1 on the season and the girls are 5-6-2 so far. Tuesday night’s games against South St. Paul fell in the gaps of printing so we’ll have the details of that next week along with the other final regular season games. Let’s take a look at how last week’s games went.

Boys

The boys had two games this week. First, they went to St. Thomas Academy on Sept. 28 where they fell 2-5. Jed Carlson and Ethan Schaack both had goals for the Raiders while Schaak and Jacob Reuter both had assists in the game.

Against Park of Cottage Grove, Head Coach Jamie Swanson made some formation changes.

“I thought that with our change to three in the back that it took a minute to sort it all but when they sorted it after the first 15 minutes, I think things went very well on our backline. The backline for any soccer team is the is the anchor and we need that to be cohesive and once that started to be cohesive, we got much more confident going forward. We were starting to create chances deep into the second half and you know, we were only down two nil. One was the set piece which we sometimes have problems with. But overall, the first half was good, and we came out with some heart and the second half and scored the first goal. That's exactly what we were going for. We couldn't carry that momentum all that far because they got another set piece that ended up going in off one of our guys, so it was just like one of those unfortunate things that kind of killed the momentum we had. But, you know, it was a hot day on a Saturday when we knew a lot of them were up late. They gave it a go; it is all we could expect from them today.”

The backline for Hastings has typically been made up of four players; Swanson made the change to three in hopes that he could be a bit more aggressive down the field and create more scoring chances. He also explained that set pieces are when the play is stopped and there is a corner kick or a stationary kick from the field. Swanson said there is a bit more work they intend to do on the set pieces.

Against Park, the lone goal was scored by Carlson with an assist from Brody Geib, but Park managed to put up four on Hastings to win the game 4-1.

Girls

The girls have been on a different path this last week. After defeating Richfield 9-0 on Sept. 25, they tied both Hill Murray 1-1 and Park of Cottage Grove 2-2.

Head Coach Paul Armstrong took a moment before the second half of the Park game to tell us what has been going well for the girls.

“When we just start playing simple, we play really well. When we try to push things then we fall into bad habits and turn the ball over. So as long as we just stay with our gameplan, we're good. It is all about choices and habits. We've been working on that the last couple of games and when we make good choices and good habits, then we move the ball, keep the ball and good results happen,” he explained.

That mentality has seemed to work well for the Raiders who are 5-2-2 in their last nine games.

Coming up for the Raiders, the final games will all be at home. First, the boys take on St. Paul Harding Oct. 4 at 7:00 p.m. Then both teams face Simley on Oct. 5. The boys play at 5:00 p.m. and the girls at 7:00 p.m. Then the girls take on Farmington on Oct. 7 at noon.