Red River, Autrey edge Central 2-1 in soccer

In a young season in which goals have been hard to come by for both Grand Forks teams, Kylie Autrey got offensive Thursday.

The freshman took care of the offense with a pair of goals, sparking Red River to a 2-1 girls high school soccer win against Grand Forks Central at Cushman Field.

Red River, 1-2, had only one goal in its first two games of the season. Central, 0-3, had its first goal Thursday.

“That (offense) is what we’ve really been working on -- better passing, creating space, taking good shots,’’ first-year Red River coach Jason Heydt said. “That’s what we did today.

“Kylie is a finisher. She has good touch on her shots. We want her to shoot more. We have a lot of girls like that, who have good shots but they’re afraid to make mistakes. We want them to challenge goaltenders.’’

Autrey’s first goal of the season gave Red River a 1-0 lead with 24:43 left in the first half when she hit from long range from the right side.

Her second goal, at the 58:21 mark, broke a 1-1 tie. Autrey scored off a Jill Goodman pass on a shot that was off Central goalie Mallory Howe’s outstretched fingertips.

On the first goal, Autrey said, “I knew I couldn’t get past (the Central defender) so I took the shot. I thought the goalie had that one. I had an amazing pass (on the game-winning goal). I jumped and kicked. I didn’t think it was going in.’’

Red River had other scoring opportunities, as two shots hit off the crossbars and another goal was negated by an offside call.

Central had tied the score at 1-1 when Mia Macias went high on a penalty kick for her team’s first goal of the season at the 56:11 mark.

“We had confidence in Mia,’’ Central coach George DuBois said. “She’s a skilled offensive player.

“Offensively we created some good scoring chances. We just weren’t able to finish as well as we needed to. We have to keep plugging away.’’

Other than Macias’ score, Heydt said. “I thought our defense played phenomenally. It wasn’t fancy. They just cleared and found the open person.’’

Both Howe and Red River goalie Jessica Lee finished with five saves.

1/3: Red River midfielder Jadyn Sondrol and Central's Emily Hellyer (3) jockey for the ball in the first half of Thursday's rivalry girls soccer match at Cushman Field. Nick Nelson / Grand Forks Herald

2/3: Central forward Mia Macias steals the ball away from Red River's Cassidy O'Halloran (19) Thursday night at Cushman Field. Nick Nelson / Grand Forks Herald

3/3: Red River's Jadyn Sondrol goes flying after colliding with Central defender Grace Foltz (13) in the second half of Thursday's rivalry soccer match at Cushman Field. Nick Nelson / Grand Forks Herald