Dilson Gurung has had the hot foot of late for Grand Forks Red River.
The sophomore leads Red River’s boys soccer team with four goals, three of those in the Roughriders’ last two games. On Thursday, Gurung doubled his season goal total and took care of all the scoring as Red River blanked Grand Forks Central 2-0 at Cushman Field.
“Dilson’s a good player,’’ Red River coach Luke Glasoe said. “He’s been a pretty defense-minded player. We needed somebody to step up on offense and he’s done it.’’
Gurung broke the scoreless deadlock at the 58:57 mark on a penalty kick. He beat Central’s Will Howard low to the goaltender’s right side for a 1-0 lead.
Gurung made it 2-0 when he scored directly off a corner kick. His shot sailed over Howard’s hands and sliced into the net.
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“That was a gutsy play,’’ Glasoe said. “Either the shot was going in or going out of bounds. It’s actually a risky play. But he’s that good, and he’s confident for his age.
“The way that went in, it wasn’t an accident. He planned that shot.’’
Red River was close on a few other scoring attempts in the second half, hitting the crossbar once and the pipe once. But Durung’s goals were enough offense for a Red River defense that played most of the second half a player short because of a red card.
Roughriders goaltender Mason Thingvold had only five saves, but one was a game changer. With the game still scoreless, the senior made a diving stop on a Central free kick.
“Their goaltender (Thingvold) was great tonight,’’ Central coach Luke Schulz said. “That diving stop in the second half, not many goalies in the state would make that one. That (save) seemed to deflate us. We didn’t have many good scoring opportunities after that.’’
Central was close on a few headers off corner kicks in the first half. It was only the second time the Knights have been shut out this season. “We weren’t connecting on passes like we normally do,’’ Schulz said. “I don’t know what it was. We had chances early in the game, but we couldn’t generate much of anything in the second half.’’
Central dropped to 5-4-0 in the East Region and 7-4-0 overall. Red River improved to 2-2-4 in the region and 3-3-4 overall. The win gave the teams a split on the season and Red River the Cushman Cup as the intracity champion based on a 4-3 edge in goals in the two games.
It was Red River’s fourth shutout of the season. “The defense played well again,’’ Glasoe said. “We haven’t been scored on very much all year.’’
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