Pouring it on: Rainy conditions can't slow Fargo North, Fargo Davies in girls soccer match

FARGO - Fargo North senior Alyssa Dehne shrugged and nonchalantly said that she's played soccer in worse conditions than Thursday's pouring rain and unseasonably cold temperature.

Then she offered up the comparison.

"I've played in hail," she said.

It might not have been as bad Thursday. But it couldn't have been far behind.

Dehne and the Spartans fought off the frigid weather and a furious Fargo Davies rally en route to a 5-4 Eastern Dakota Conference girls soccer victory at Pepsi Soccer Complex.

"Once you get going it's not so bad because you get warmed up and stuff," Dehne said. "But when you are warming up it's kind of bad."

North (2-1) used a heavy wind to their advantage to build an early first half lead.

Dehne scored three goals in the opening 30 minutes to help the Spartans to a 4-1 advantage.

The game was shortened to two 35-minute halves due to the inclement weather.

"We had the wind so that helped a lot," Dehne said. "We knew we had to defend well in the second half. And they came back a little bit."

Davies (1-1) took advantage of its opportunity to play with the wind at its back in the second half.

The Eagles were able to push the ball up the field with greater success than in the first half, and cut the Spartans lead to 4-2 on a Kenzie Carlson goal with 23:50 remaining.

Dehne's fourth goal of the game was the eventual game winner.

She beat a defender on a breakaway, and put the ball past Davies goalkeeper Lauren Orson to make the score 5-2.

Back-to-back Davies goals by Amy Stompro and Emily Wendorff put pressure on the Spartans with about 15 minutes to play.

However, North withstood the Eagles late charge to grab a share of the EDC regular-season lead with Fargo Shanley.

"There are mistakes that happen when you have wind, cold weather and rain," Davies coach Nick Christianson said. "North capitalized on a bunch of mistakes in the first half and got out to a good lead. ... We came out with determination and wanted to get back in the game in second half. We played the way we needed to and we scored some goals."

FIRST HALF: 1, FN, Dehne, 3:45. 2, FN, Dehne, 6th minute. 3, FD, McCullough, 9th. 4, FN, Dehne, 31st. 5, FN, Ivers, 34th.

SECOND HALF: 6, FD, Carlson, 46th. 7, FN, Dehne, 48th. 8, FD, Stompro, 49th. 9, FD, Wendorff, 56th.

SAVES: FN, Sitzmann 12. FD, Orson 5.

Note: Assists were unavailable.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Heath Hotzler at (701) 241-5562.

Hotzler's blogs can be found at www.areavoices.com