Boys soccer: Cards top Brainerd

Tribune Sports
BRAINERD - The Willmar boys soccer team suffered a blip in their schedule last week in a four-goal loss to Mankato West.
Since then, the Cardinals have been rolling strong.
Fernando Zavala scored two goals - he has five in the last two games - and Jesus Nevarez scored a goal and assisted on both of Zavala’s tallies in a 4-1 win at Brainerd on Thursday.
The Cardinals improved to 3-1-1 in the Central Lakes Conference and 6-2-1 overall.
Aside from the 5-1 loss at Mankato West, the Cardinals have outscored their opponents 28-1 in their last four victories.
“We always have trouble with Mankato West - it’s more mental than anything,” said Willmar head coach Jeff Winter. “But we’ve come out of that and turned things around. It’s been a good week.”
Zavala scored and Nevarez assisted on the game’s first two goals Thursday.
In the second half, Nevarez scored on an assist from Marcos Nino, and after a Brainerd goal, David Gomez put on the finishing touch in the final minute on an assist from Gerson Maldonado-Garcia.
Cards goal Manny Obregon made seven saves.
The Cardinals play host to Alexandria (4-2-1) on Tuesday and then travel to play at St. Cloud Tech (5-1-1) on Thursday.
“They’re both good teams,” Winter said. “It will be a tough week next week.”
Willmar 4, Brainerd 1
Willmar (3-1-1, 6-2-1) 2 2 - 4
Brainerd (0-7, 0-8) 0 1 - 1
FIRST HALF – W: Fernando Zavala (Jesus Nevarez) 23rd minute ... W: Zavala (Nevarez) 35th minute
SECOND HALF – W: Nevarez (Marcos Nino) 58th minute ... B: Mason Malone 74th minute ... W: David Gomez (Gerson Maldonado-Garcia) 79th minute
SHOTS ON GOAL – Willmar: 19 ... Brainerd: 8
GOALIE SAVES – Willmar: Manny Obregon 7 … Brainerd: Noah Sunberg 15
DEFENSIVE SAVES – None
Girls Soccer
Non-Conference
Zimmerman 8, Melrose 1
Marlen Cervantes scored her team’s only goal in the first half on Thursday in Melrose.
The Dutch’s goalie, Wendy Smith, turned back 18 shots.