Huskies win first game at Federated Field against Tigers

The Owatonna boys soccer team held its senior night Tuesday, and the Huskies celebrated by playing at a new location.

The Huskies played their first ever game at Federated Field, the high school football field for its Senior Night. While they are used to playing on grass at the Lincoln Soccer Complex for their home games, they adjusted to playing on turf just fine, as they beat the Albert Lea Tigers 4-0.

This was the first time the boys soccer team has ever played at Federated Field, as Owatonna’s girls soccer team played on it last year and will play on it for their home game on Thursday.

The Huskies were coming off of a much needed win on Saturday against Mankato West on Monday as they lost last Thursday to Farmington on the road 2-1. The game was tied at halftime against the Farmington Tigers 1-1 with senior Jackson Mottl scoring on an assist by senior Logan Torres. But the Tigers scored a goal in the second period and won 2-1 over the Huskies for their first game of the year.

They returned on the road on Monday against the Mankato West Scarlets and won 3-0 with goals by sophomore Akram Haji, junior Gavin Burmeister, and senior Lukas Vargas.

The diversity of goal scorers for the Huskies continued on Tuesday night, as senior Brian Arevalo scored a goal from an assist by senior Zachary Knott to make it 2-0 for the Huskies. Arevalo has been playing on the JV squad before Tuesday’s game.

The goal came off of a free kick by Knott, with Albert Lea’s goalkeeper saving it but the ball rebounded off of him to allow Arevalo to score the goal.

The Huskies’ first goal of the night came from Vargas with an assist by senior Brandon Canales Blanco.

With just under 9 minutes of the first period, Freshman Logan Wilker passed it to Burmeister and Burmesiter scored a goal to put the Huskies up by three points. Owatonna went into halftime leading Albert Lea 3-0.

While the score was 3-0, the Huskies could have had more points, as they outshot the Tigers 12-0 in the first half with a few good saves by the Tigers’ goalkeeper.

The second period was a similar story, as many of the Huskies’ shots went just above the goal, with some even hitting the field goal crossbar at Federated Field.

The second period was fast-playing as no team scored until just over 11 minutes left in the game. Vargas had his second goal during senior night off of an assist by fellow senior Torres. The goal was off a beautiful shot by Vargas in the corner of the goal.

Sophomore Carson Van Gelder was the goalkeeper for the Huskies, and he had an easy day on the field, with the Huskies outshooting the Tigers 21-0. The Huskies came away with the senior night victory at Federated Field 4-0.

The Huskies will have three more away games in the season before having their final regular season game at home on next Thursday. Their next game is on Thursday at Northfield.