Lynx fend off SFR in season finale
By:
Staff report
Jill Meier/BV Journal
BV’s Eli Kirlin battles for possession of the ball against a Sioux Falls Roosevelt defender last week. BV peppered the Roosevelt goal with 11 shots, two of which were on goal, while Roosevelt had the advantage behind their 16 shots, eight of which were on goal. Ayden Spicer had 7 saves.
The Lynx boys saved some of their best play for the final game of their regular season schedule on Sept. 29, and the result was a hard-fought 2-1 victory over neighboring rival, Sioux Falls Roosevelt.
Brandon Valley started strong, sparking a goal just four minutes after the opening kickoff. Carson Barton played the ball back to Eli Kirlin, who took a long shot from about 25 yards out from goal. The spinning ball deflected off a defender and went high into the air. It came down and bounced in front of the Roosevelt goalkeeper, spinning over his head and into the back of the net for BV’s initial score.
After a flurry of Roosevelt substitutions, the Rough Riders tried to settle down and find an equalizer throughout the first half, but the Lynx defense held strong despite Roosevelt taking nine shots in the opening half to BV’s four.
“At halftime we talked about how we needed to play a bit more conservative and keep our team shape,” Lynx coach Chris Limmer said. “Our outside forwards needed to continue to work hard coming back to help defend when we’re not in possession.”
The boys heeded Limmer’s advice. Back on the field, the Lynx continued their strong play and within the first three minutes of the half, Lawson Lambertz was on the receiving end of a long ball played forward by Dylan Smedsrud. Lambertz beat his defender to the ball, took a few small touches while racing toward the goal, and toe-poked the ball past the Rough Rider goalkeeper.
With a 2-0 advantage on the board and eight minutes to play, the Rough Riders made the game interesting when Paxon Flemming had a shot blocked, but followed up the rebound with a well-placed volley that beat Lynx goalkeeper Ayden Spicer just inside the right post.
BV held on for the remainder of the game to hand Roosevelt just their second loss of the season. The victory improves the Lynx to 5-4-3. Ironically, this result pitted the same two teams against one another in the first round of playoffs, which was played Tuesday night at Howard Wood Field. See next week’s Journal for a recap of how the BV boys fared.
A victory would advancethe Lynx to Saturday’s second round playoff game, with both the opponent and location to be determined.
