Thursday, July 17th, 2025 Church Directory
JUNIOR CARSON MAKARRALL sends the ball off for a pass in the Big Lake rivalry match Tuesday. (Photo by Penny Leuthard)

Bulldogs Put Up 3 Against The Hornets

After playing five tough matches and steady improvements on the defense, the Becker Bulldogs Boys Soccer Team finally captured their first win.

The team started their season off against Providence Academy, falling 2-0 and then 1-0 to an old conference rival, Zimmerman.

Becker welcomed Delano to their first home game which unfortunately ended with a result of 5-0 in favor of Delano.

“We got a bit unlucky with the ball not bouncing our way,” said Coach Nick Crowley. “But we really didn’t play to our full potential.”

Trying to rebound after the tough defeats, they played St. Francis on the road, the first conference opponent back in the Mississippi 8. 

The defense improved with leadership from Senior Captain Noah Fakhreddine. However, the true man of the match was Senior Captain Parker Lahr in net, who kept the Bulldogs in game until the very end with 15 saves in the game. The team couldn’t pull one back with most of the match being 1-0 and got unlucky in the last minute on the game with a breakaway goal resulting in a 2-0 loss.

Another poor result against Cambridge-Isanti at home, 2-1, really motivated the Bulldogs for their next game.

Tuesday evening, the Big Lake Hornets traveled west to take on the Bulldogs in a rivalry match. The game opened up with both teams trading position, but a break finally came in the 37th minute, just before half, when junior Ray Lyon took a shot outside the 18 and junior Bodie Moore followed the rebound and smashed it into the back of the net for his first varsity goal.

The team took the momentum into the second half and applied pressure. About 20 minutes in, with Becker dominating position, junior Max Rositas scored, assisted by junior Carson Makarrall, after some great linkup play in midfield. 

Rositas scored again, this time on a rebound after a hard shot by Senior Captain Kyle Cleaver.

“I was very happy with the way we played,” said Crowley. “We maintained possession and worked the ball around the field. We took plenty of shots and capitalized when we needed to. I hope we can take this positive play into our next games.”

The Bulldogs next take on Sauk Rapids-Rice on Monday in Becker, followed by a Tuesday game against North Branch and off to Cambridge-Isanti on Thursday.