Blue Jays tie Minot, Anderson scores first goal of the year

Aug. 22—JAMESTOWN — Minot head soccer coach Chad Oswalt gave his boys a piece of sage wisdom Tuesday night:

"Don't give the ball to (Brady) Harty."

Oswalt didn't say anything about Jake Anderson though.

Down 1-0 with 23 minutes remaining in the Jamestown High School boys soccer team's season opener against the Magicians, Anderson, a junior, received a perfect pass from Louis Kjellberg and delivered a bullet past Minot goalkeeper, Grayden Wald.

"We had so many chances in the first half that were close but to see Louis and Jake work together to finish it, was perfect," JHS head coach Brandi Harty said. "That was a big one for Jake — he played all summer and only ended up with one goal. The team likes to give him a hard time about not being able to find the back of the net."

It's a good thing, Anderson found it, otherwise, the Jays would have been starting their season at 0-1-0 instead of 0-0-1.

Entering the team's season opener, Harty said she was excited to see what Minot was made of as they lost some key pieces from their attack and goalkeeper J.J. Dufner to graduation.

"Any time you play Minot, no matter what kind of a year they are having, they are always a very good club," Harty said. "Our boys fought until the end and tied it up which is what we needed. That is one of the things we struggled with last year was coming back. For them to do that tonight, that was big.

"I think we can be better — I really do — but overall for a first game against the returning champions who already played two games — I am very proud of how they played," she said.

The Blue Jays' swarming defense kept the two-time defending WDA champs scoreless until Cale Workman capitalized on a deflected ball that wound up past Blue Jay keeper, Grant Lunde and made it 1-0 Magicians with about 27 minutes left in the opening half.

While Jamestown dominated the time of possession in the first half, Harty said the Magicians still did a good job at bringing the pressure and getting into the attacking third quickly.

"We panicked," Harty said of how her team responded to the Magicians' offensive play. "What also hurt us was that we had key players go down towards the end of the game and when that happens it can mess with a team and the rhythm of what they are doing on the field."

John Belzer and Connor Traut were escorted off the field due to some cramping in the final minutes of play.

"I guess that's a good thing," Harty said of the reasoning behind losing two players late. "Our boys have been very good with preventative care but it's humid — it's not good weather for us to be playing right now."

Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with the Blue Jays' jam-packed schedule because losing more players would not be ideal. Harty and her crew will be back in action on Friday in Dickinson. The Jays and Midgets are slated to kick off at 6:30 p.m. at Dickinson State University.

The Jays will finish out the week in Williston on Saturday.

"We have to not play down to their level and continue to teach the boys to play simple and find the back of the net," Harty said. "It's that simple."

Jamestown 1, Minot 1

MIN 1 0 — 1

JHS 0 1 — 1

Scoring

First half

1. MIN, Cale Workman (Tripp Klebe), 13th minute;

Second half

2. JHS, Jake Anderson (Louis Kjellberg), 57th minute.

Shots on goal: Minot 5; Jamestown 9

Goalkeeper saves: Minot, Grayden Wald, 8; Jamestown, Grant Lunde, 4