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White Bear Lake surges past Duluth East

By Justin Magill, MN Soccer Hub correspondent, 09/16/11, 8:26AM CDT

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Three goals in seven minutes give Bears a big early lead

Fast and furious could have been the way to describe White Bear Lake’s scoring surge, which resulted in a 5-2 victory over Duluth East in girls' nonconference action Thursday night at White Bear Lake Stadium.

Early in the first half, the Bears scored three goals in seven minutes and took a 3-1 lead into halftime, dominating the first 40 minutes of play as Christina Ware put away two of the Bears three goals in the half.
 
“It was one of her best games of the year and she deserved everything that went her way,” co-head coach Jim Pelletier said. “She came away with almost every 50-50 ball, so she was able to get scoring chances for herself or get the ball to her teammates.”
 
Ware made the score 2-0 at the 15 minute mark in the first half. She only waited five more minutes to get her second, which ended up being the game-winner.
 
“We played really well defensively and that helped us on offense,” Ware said. “Our goal was to not allow them to get their offense going, so when that happened, we got some chances to score and I was able to get a couple because of what our whole team did.”
 
One player the Bears had to stop was Minnesota Golden Gophers recruit Alex Freeman, who matched Ware’s total of two goals on the night.
 
“She is one of the best players in the state, going to the Gophers, so we knew we had our hands full,” co-coach John Dierkhising said. “That is an explosive team over there and we practiced hard on defense to prepare for them and I think we did a great job with that.
 
“Yes, she (Freeman) scored a couple, but we were pretty solid the rest of the way.”
 
Freeman cut the Bears lead to one when she deflected a cross in the air with her right foot, in the 46th minute, to the upper left corner.
 
Instead of getting tense, the Bears continued to play a strong defensive game and were opportunistic with chances as the game progressed. 
 
Grace Fitch put the lead back to two when she buried home a shot off of a free kick from Haley Hill.
 
In the final minute Nina Abrahamson gave White Bear Lake more insurance when she capitalized on a loose ball in the Greyhounds box.
 
Her first shot rang off the crossbar, but the ball came right back to her and she chipped it in for the final score of the evening.
 
“Defensively we played well and were prepared to have to play really tight,” Dierkhising added. “I thought we were going to be in a track meet trying to stay with them, but we were able to let some of our players loose and they took advantage of it. A great all-around game for us.”
 
Since suffering back-to-back losses close to the start of the season, White Bear Lake is on a five-game winning streak, with a record of 6-2-0 (3-0-0 Suburban East Conference).
 
“You talk to our players and their goal is to win state,” Pelletier said. “We have been playing well and we need to keep going forward.”
 
White Bear Lake will be on the road Saturday to take on Tartan before heading back home.
 
Duluth East drops to 2-5-0 on the season and will conclude its tour of the Twin Cities on Saturday when it visits Blaine, a power in the Northwest Suburban Conference.