Jays comeback to draw in consecutive games

The Three Lakes-Phelps boys soccer team had an interesting stretch last week as it fought back, and finished, with draws in both of the contests against Northland Lutheran and Pacell-Iola-Scandinavia.   

With two games to open the week immediately, the Bluejays tied Northland Lutheran 2-2 Monday and Pacelli-Iola-Scandinavia 1-1 Tuesday. 

Three Lakes-Phelps head coach Brad Volkmann said it was a disappointing week to tie in both games based on the expectations of the team this season.

“It was a disappointing week for us to draw in two games we should have won,” he said.  

The Jays fell down in a 1-0 hole early in both games, but still managed to fight for the full 80 minutes for a tie. 

Against Northland Lutheran, it was the play of Peyton Pitlik who had both of the goals. Once down 1-0, Pitlick buried a penalty kick and a towering header off a corner kick to give the Bluejays a brief 2-1 lead. Northland Lutheran would tie the game back up, and that’s how the game would end. 

“His play was probably the highlight of the night,” said Volkmann. “We gave up early goals in both games, but were able to battle our way back in, so it shows some resilience, but we have to work on not getting in a hole in the first place.” 

Possession was dominated by Three Lakes-Phelps against Northland Lutheran and was much of the same Tuesday against Pacelli-Iola-Scandinavia. The Cardinals struck first to go up 1-0, but the Jays were able to maintain possession for most of the game to create opportunities and tie things back up at 1-1. 

“For both games, we had dominance of possession, as well as many more chances on goal, but as a team, we were having trouble finding the back of the net,” stated Volkmann. 

The Jays hosted Iron Mountain Monday to start the week, before closing things out at Merrill Friday, Oct. 11, at 5:30 p.m.