Cloquet soccer team crumbles in quarterfinals

Dustin Randall said it just wasn’t their day.

The Cloquet girls soccer coach watched from the sidelines Saturday afternoon as his Lumberjacks were shut out 5-0 by Duluth Denfeld in a Section 7A quarterfinal girls soccer match at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth.

“It was just one of those days,” said Randall. “You’re going to have a last game. Unfortunately, ours was today.”

According to Randall, fifth-seeded Cloquet came out flat Saturday against the No. 4 Hunters. Blustery winds circled around sunny skies at PSS, as the Denfeld players tallied all five of their goals in the opening half, including a string of three in just over six minutes of play midway through the frame.

“All of sudden, we were down three goals,” Randall recalled. “We were kind of shell-shocked, and just couldn’t come back. It was unfortunate.”

Having witnessed the Lumberjacks defeat the Hunters exactly a week earlier, Randall was disappointed after the game,

knowing things slipped away.

“We didn’t want to lose like that,” he said, “but we didn’t linger on it much afterward. I think we quietly picked it up at the end of the year and know we could still be in the mix with those teams left.

“We finished with a winning record,” Randall continued. “I don’t think a lot people would have expected that at the start of the season.”

Cloquet closed with a 10-8 mark, placing second in the Lake Superior Conference behind Denfeld. Sophomore Maija Doran led the Lumberjacks with 15 goals, followed by junior Emily Rikkola’s 10. Midfielder Carri Zeadow led the senior class with eight points. Six players will graduate from this

year’s squad.

Tags: sports, cloquet, duluth, preps, soccer