In a season in which goals have been hard to come by, the intracity rivalry has been a slump buster for Grand Forks Red River.
The Roughriders completed a girls soccer regular-season sweep of Grand Forks Central on Tuesday, blanking the Knights 2-0.
Red River snapped a run of three consecutive games in which it was shut out. It was only the third time the Riders have scored two or more goals in a game; the first was in a 3-2 win against Central.
“It’s a rivalry,’’ Red River coach Jessica Krog said. “Any time you play your rival, you get up for the game more.
“We did attack a little more than we did in the last few games. We have pretty good speed and we took advantage of it.’’
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High-scoring Jessica Dallman broke the scoreless duel with 12:08 left in the first half. The junior hit a shot from a difficult angle from the left side that found the front corner of the far side of the net. “The ball had eyes,’’ Krog said of Dallman’s seventh goal of the season.
Jamie O’Halloran went long range to make it 2-0 at the 58-minute mark. She hit a shot straight on from 45 yards out, a high-arching strike that snuck in under the crossbar. It was the junior defender’s first goal of the season.
“Those goals were big in different ways,’’ said Krog, whose team allowed only two goals in its last three games, but came away with a tie and two 1-0 losses. “Jessica got us going. And Jami got the clincher. She had space and time. She’s got a powerful leg. That (goal) gave us some breathing room.
“We had to play with more of a sense of urgency on offense. Our defense has been playing well. We need to give them more offensive support. And we did today.’’
Red River goalie Mari Rustebakke had three saves, while Karleigh Gause had seven stops for the Knights. In the first half, the sophomore kept the game close when she came far out of the net to stop a breakaway and also had a leaping catch for another save.
“Karleigh was a big factor,’’ Knights coach George DuBois said. “She was aggressive. She’s played like that all year. But we couldn’t find the target on offense.’’
Red River improved to 4-3-1 while Central dropped to 2-7-1.
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