The old adage says that a team wants to peak at the right time and it appears that could be the case for the Becker Bulldog boys soccer team and coach Nick Crowley. After starting out the season with a string of losses, the team turned things around and put together a nice win streak. As a reward, they earned a #5 seed in the section playoffs and traveled to Rockford for a Thursday night matchup with the #4 seed Rockets.

“Having lost to them earlier in the season 6-2, we are looking to flip the result around,” Crowley says.

Willmar drew the top seed in the section and will face the Big Lake Hornets, meaning a Bulldog upset of the Rockets will draw a contest with the winner of that game.

Royals

Becker faced an excellent opponent in the regular season finale, as last week Thursday they traveled to Watertown-Mayer to take on the 9-3-3 Royals. It was a back and forth affair all evening that resulted in a 1-1 tie and gave the Bulldogs a final regular season record of 7-6-2.

From the time the whistle blew, Crowley said it was an intense, nerve wracking game – the type of game he hoped his team would play in preparation for the playoffs.

Becker came out with determination and created two chances in the first 10 minutes, and then, on the third chance, they finally capitalized. Junior Chris Stich received the ball in the Watertown half and found junior Ander Alzaga in the box. Alzaga beat the first defender easily, and then as the second defender took him down, Alzaga got a toe on the ball to slide it just under the diving keeper to make it 1-0 for the Bulldogs at the 16 minute mark.

Much of the momentum in the first half stayed with Becker, as they created a few more chances and played some spectacular defense. 

“It was great to go into half with the lead . . .  we played really well,” Crowley said. “Owen Kolbinger and Kyle Vogl stayed steady on the back line and Nick Gruber had some good saves.”

In addition to the Bulldogs’ tough defense, Crowley said his offense was also clicking, despite not scoring against a tough Royal defense.

“Further up the field Kevin Vogl, Ander, and Micah Boyer were linking up very well,” Crowley said.  “We looked like we could have put another one or two past them.”

As the second half started, the Royals changed tactics and came out with additional energy. Much of the game went back and forth, but with a brief period where the Bulldogs weren’t able to get out of their half. 

“There are moments in every game where you have to weather a period of low possession or conceding shots, and we did well,” Crowley said.  

However, a breakaway and a series of errors lead to a Watertown-Mayer goal and with 15 minutes left in the game, it was all even at 1-1 and eventually overtime ensued.

In the extra period, goalkeeper Nick Gruber kept the Bulldogs in it with some huge saves. 

“They peppered us from the start of extra time to the end, but our defense held and we pulled off a positive result,” Crowley said.

Look for details of the Section tournament in next week’s Patriot.