Card girls' soccer: Alexandria splits

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Almost halfway through the conference season, the Alexandria girls’ soccer team is right in the mix for the Central Lakes Conference title.

The Cardinals continued to prove themselves against the rest of the league on Tuesday night with a 1-0 win over St. Cloud Apollo. Since a 5-0 loss to Brainerd on September 4, Alexandria has gone 3-0-1 against CLC opponents with three shutouts on their resume.

The defense and goalkeeper Sarah Bruzek were stingy again against the Eagles. The Cardinals limited St. Cloud Apollo to just five shots on goal. Bruzek made all of those, including a diving stop from point blank range to keep the shutout intact.

The Cardinals got all they needed offensively with a goal by Chelsey Salto in the first half. The junior put in a header that was sent in on a corner kick by fellow junior Anna Spanbauer.

That moved Alexandria to 5-2-1 overall. The top of the conference is a logjam with Sauk Rapids-Rice and Alexandria both having 4-1-1 records and Brainerd sitting right there at 3-0-3. Sartell-St. Stephen also has a winning record at 3-2-2.

“The CLC is extremely competitive this year,” Alexandria head coach Tom Roos said. “I think Sauk Rapids, Sartell, Brainerd and now Alex have all been in the lead at some time or another.”

Moorhead 1,

Alexandria 0

The Alexandria girls’ soccer team went out of conference and came home from Moorhead with a 1-0 loss against the Spuds on Monday night.

The loss halted a three-game unbeaten streak for the Cardinals as they fell to 4-2-1 on the season. A defensive battle came down to one goal as Moorhead connected almost 19 minutes into the game. A loose ball fell between Alexandria keeper Sarah Bruzek and her defense before Cheyenne Willoughby gathered it and put it in the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

“A little confusion in the penalty area allowed the Spud attackers to come up with the ball and score the only goal of the night,” Alexandria head coach Tom Roos said. “[It was] a bit of a lackluster game in cool, windy conditions.”

Moorhead’s Erin Eidsness got the win in goal for the Spuds with five saves. Bruzek countered with another solid game herself, collecting nine saves in the losing effort.

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, cardinals, girls, soccer