Saturday, July 19th, 2025 Church Directory

Boys Soccer Goes 1 4

The Becker Bulldogs boys soccer team continues to face challenging opponents during their season, only pulling out one win out of their last five matches.

Sept. 16 the team hosted Sauk-Rapids-Rice. The Storm caught the home team sleeping in the first few minutes of the game to make it 1-0. Although the Bulldogs soon woke up and played a tough defense, with two minutes left in the half the team’s defense let another goal in making it 2-0 going into the second half.

Unfortunately, the second half didn’t fare much better. After the Storm countered and the Bulldogs had a few key injuries, the final result was 5-0.

The following night the team hosted conference opponent North Branch. Once again, the opponent struck first, and in the third minute of the game a questionable handball was called in the box and North Branch converted the penalty.

The Bulldogs continued to play focused and hard, but were unable to slide anything past the North Branch goalkeeper and went into halftime down 1-0. Much of the second half went back and forth with the competition keeping possession and Becker looking for the counter, resulting in another Bulldog loss.

“Tough loss, especially with the call so early in the game,” said Coach Nick Crowley. “But I was really impressed with the young guys I put out there, who stepped up when I called on them. The defense performance as a whole kept us in the game, but especially that of Parker Lahr in net with 15 saves.

Sept. 19 saw the team on the road to compete against Cambridge-Isanti. The match was competitive from the start with both teams getting multiple shots on net in the first 10 minutes. Once more the defensive line played a huge role in keeping the score 0-0, featuring Lahr in net and Senior Captain Noah Fekhreddine as center-back.

With 12 minutes left of the half the Bulldogs were awarded a penalty kick, converting the score to 1-0. With four minutes left the Blue Jackets were also awarded a penalty kick, leaving a score of 1-1 at the end of regulation. Going into two 5-minute overtime halves to decide the game, the Bulldogs kept possession, and after being awarded another penalty kick they won the match 2-1.

Competing in their fourth game in six days, last Saturday the Bulldogs next took on Mayer Lutheran. With injuries piling up, the team nearly scored on a corner kick in the third minute of the game, but the Crusaders received a lucky deflection and scored the only goal of the half.

Although the Bulldogs couldn’t make it happen on the offense, their reliable defense held solid until 10 minutes into the second half Mayer Lutheran skated past to make it 2-0; the final score was a Bulldog loss, 3-0.

Monday they traveled to Rockford hoping to change form, but the Rockets came out of the gate seeking the win. With the score 2-0 against the Bulldogs, in the twentieth minute a penalty was called against them and Rockford scored off the rebound.

During the second half the Bulldogs looked like a different team after a slight tweak in formation and playing with more energy. The team managed to slot one past but couldn’t continue to capitalize, losing the match 4-1.

The Bulldogs hosted Princeton on homecoming Friday, which will be covered in next week’s Citizen-Tribune. Saturday they take on Maranatha Christian Academy, Monticello on Tuesday and Chisago Lakes on Thursday for the final regular season game.