By Charlie Warner
Argus Editor

Mother Nature and a 3-2 loss to La Crescent last week put the Caledonia boys soccer team in the tough bracket of the Section 1A play-offs, which begin this Thursday.

The Warriors game with Plainview-Elgin-Millville, who they defeated 4-0 earlier in the season, was rained out October 2. Two days later, the CHS boys tried to avenge an earlier one-goal loss to neighboring La Crescent, but lost 3-2.

"If we could have come into the play-offs with a 10-2-2 record, or even 9-3-2, we probably would have ended up in the other bracket," coach Tom Krinke said. "Instead, we are seeded fifth and are in the same bracket with La Crescent and Rochester Lourdes." Lourdes is one of the top ranked Class A schools in the state.

The Warriors will host number 12 seeded Faribault Thursday evening at 7 p.m. If the Warriors beat Faribault, they will take on the winner of the La Crescent - Lake City game. The Lancers are seeded fourth in the section, while Lake City is 13th.

Faribault is a complete un-known, Krinke said. They play in the conference with larger schools and learned at the seeding meeting Sunday night they only played about a half dozen games, and lost them all. "I think they are a lot better team than their record shows," Krinke said. "We will be taking the play-offs one game at a time. If we are fortunate enough to beat Faribault, we will probably face La Crescent for the third time this year. As the old sports saying goes, ëitís hard to beat a team three times in one season.í If we get through the first round of play, I know the kids will be pumped at a shot at La Crescent again."

La Crescent 3 Caledonia 2

The game was billed as two good soccer teams playing for the second time in less than a month. The Warriors and Lancers have had two of the better programs in this area and the two teams went at each other in a very spirited contest.

The first half was played extremely close, with the Lancers scoring the only goal, at the 23-minute mark on a direct kick.

The home-standing Lancers made it 2-0 17 minutes into the second half. Thatís when the Warriors came to life.

"We were down 2-0 and I told the kids, ëthis is your season,í and they really responded," Krinke said.

CHS cut the Lancer lead in half when Jordan Becker scored an unassisted goal 25 minutes into the second half. The Warriors tied the game up at two-all when Alex Castanheira scored on a pass from Becker with 11 minutes to go in the game.

La Crescent scored the winning goal with less than three minutes remaining in the game on a header shot that came off of a throw in.

"I thought the game was going to go into overtime," Krinke said. "They made a very nice play on the winning goal. La Crescent has a good team. I know our kids would like to have another shot at them."

The Warriors held the advantage on shots on goal, with 18 to the Lancersí 12.

Jordan Becker was the Warriorsí regular season scoring leader with eight goals and eight assists. Colin Gluch was second with 13 goals and two assists, and Alex Castanheira was third with five goals and four assists.

The winner of Thursday nightís game at Caledonia verses Fairbault will take on the winner of the La Crescent - Lake City game Saturday. The higher seeded team will host that game.

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