The Northfield Raiders soccer team enjoyed a little jawing with the Austin football team before Thursday night’s contest at Wescott Field.

Friday, September 24, 1999

The Northfield Raiders soccer team enjoyed a little jawing with the Austin football team before Thursday night’s contest at Wescott Field.

That incident fired up the Raiders. They scored a goal in the first two minutes of the game and then went on to dominate the first half. A late goal in the half made it 2-0 Northfield.

Austin dominated the action in the second half, but couldn’t get the ball past the Northfield goalie until the 33rd minute of play on a direct free kick by Chris Lynch. They redoubled their effort to try to tie the score in the last seven minutes of the game, but were again stopped by the Northfield goal keeper and his defense, leading to a 2-1 non-conference loss for the Packers.

"We missed defender Drew Oesterle in the lineup tonight," Austin coach David Graham said. "He is suspended for four games. It is a mandatory suspension after being ejected in two games in a season. We made a couple of defensive mistakes that allowed the two goals.

Northfield opened the game dashing down the field. Before Austin had a chance to find a man to mark, the ball was in the net. Evan Howe headed in a cross from about 10 feet in front of the goal.

Northfield kept the pressure up throughout the half. For the game, Northfield outshot Austin 18-9.

The Raiders finally broke through again with little over a minute left. Isidoro Cornelio hammered home a loose ball for the score.

Austin came close in the final minute with a rush of its own. Mike Inthisane made a nice chest trap of a pass and then headed a short pass to Frederico Pastorne. Pastorne had an open shot, but was unable to get a good touch on the ball.

The tempo picked up in the second half with both teams picking up a yellow card. For Austin it was Erin Heimer on a huge tackle that kept a Northfield player from going in alone on goal. The yellow card did not hamper Heimer’s aggressive play as he made two risky defensive plays to stop two more great opportunities by Northfield. The stalwart for the Austin defense was sophomore goal keeper Shane Peterson, who numerous times made the big save or made the big catch of a flurry of Northfield corner kicks.

Austin had its first great opportunity to score with 22 minutes left. Vladimir Blagojevic took a free kick from about 30 yards out. His drive went into the wall, but Lynch came up with the loos ball and he powered a low shot at goal. The ball went through the keeper’s hands and dribbled through the goal mouth. A Northfield defender got to it first with a sliding clear to put it out of harm’s away.

"If we scored there it could have been a different game," Graham said.

As mentioned above, a direct free kick did result in an Austin goal. Lynch took it after Jon Ruhnke was fouled about 25 yards out from the goal. He drove another low ball around the wall, and after one bounce it was in the net.

"Austin has some impressive athletes," Northfield (5-4-1) coach Ben Danielson said. "Especially No. 5 (Lynch). I’m impressed with how they played."

Austin (2-6-1, 2-5 in the Big Nine) has a relaxing week next with only one game Tuesday in Mankato against West. The Scarlets are the third ranked team in the state in Class A. Saturday’s game with Winona has been rescheduled for Oct. 9 at 1 p.m. at Wescott.

Girls Soccer: Austin plays to a tie

The Austin girls soccer team managed a 3-3 tie in Northfield on Thursday.

After jumping to a 1-0 lead on a Jamie Nieland goal in the game’s first minute, the Packers fell behind 2-1 by halftime.

"We had some confusion on defense," Coach David Ingalls said. "We had a couple of players who were sick, so we were trying people in different areas."

A second-half goal by Katy McClain knotted the game at 2. The teams traded goals in the second half, with Nieland picking up the tying goal with 20 minutes left in the game.

Austin’s record reached 4-3-2 (3-3-1 in the Big Nine) with the non-conference tie.

Volleyball: Austin falls in Faribault

The Austin volleyball team lost 3-2 in Faribault on Thursday.

The Packers took the Falcons to five games, falling 12-15, 15-9, 10-15, 15-13 and 4-15.

Austin tennis remains unblemished in Big Nine

The Packers are zooming into the home stretch triumphantly. Thursday they were in Albert Lea. They convincingly beat the Tigers 7-0. The win puts their Big Nine mark at 7-0.

Next week area tennis fans can see Austin go for the Big Nine crown when they host Rochester John Marshall on Tuesday and Mayo on Thursday. Pending the outcome of Thursday’s match between the two schools, Mayo is also undefeated in the Big Nine.

The top three Austin singles players dominated once again. Laurie Alonso and Amy Kelly at one and two pitched shutouts while No. 3 singles player Emily Bue won 12-of-15 games. Sara Ormseth who is rotating with Betsy Hingeveld at No. 4 singles also won.

"Betsy and Sara are both getting good experience which is nice," Austin coach Deb Hoyt said. "Sara got he momentum going after a slow start today."

Two of the three Austin doubles teams also had slow starts, dropping their first sets. But they both came back to win in convincing fashion. Mindy Neilon and Chelsea McColley at No. 1 lost the first set in a tie break before winning four and two. Amber Dolphin and Claire Johnson lost their first set 6-4 before taking control in the next two sets with identical 6-2 wins.

At No. 2 doubles Lindy Swedberg and Tiffany Ankeny had no problems winning 6-0, 6-1.

"They played one of their best matches of the year," Hoyt said. "They were hitting the ball solid and being aggressive."

The Packers look to fine tune their games Saturday, when they host Blue Earth at 1 p.m.