Healthy Mustangs dominate Demons |
Owen Casas of West Fargo Sheyenne gets locked up with Bismarck’s Owen Haase (16) for a battle of control of the ball.
JAMESTOWN, N.D. — It wasn’t a great day for the top seeds from the Western Dakota Association at the North Dakota state boys soccer tournament on Thursday.
In fact, it wasn’t much fun for any of the West seeds. But it was a great evening for Derrick Lobbo and his West Fargo Sheyenne teammates.
In his first game of the season, Lobbo scored two goals as the Mustangs thumped Bismarck 4-0 in the final quarterfinal of the day to ensure it will be an all-East semifinals.
“It was my first game back, so I had to give it my all,” said Lobbo, who broke a knee cap during tryouts and missed two months. “I know my teammates needed me.”
Sheyenne is 6-5-6 overall after Thursday’s win, but looked like a completely different team than that record would indicate. The Mustangs dominated play and limited Bismarck to just two shots on goal.
“That’s the first time we’ve had the whole team healthy, so that’s a plus having everybody back on the pitch — that’s big,” said coach Jonathan Melendez-Soloaga. “Now the team is complete and we’re playing good soccer.”
Sheyenne’s Abel Mabala scored the game’s first goal with 16 minutes, 57 seconds left in the first half. About 11 minutes later, the Mustangs’ Soren Kaster was shoved down in the box and Lobbo converted the penalty kick for his first goal of the year.
