WILLMAR — Good things come to those who wait.

For the Willmar boys soccer team, that meant an impressive 8-1 win over Central Lakes Conference foe St. Cloud Apollo on Tuesday at Hodapp Field.

“This is the latest first game since I’ve been coaching,” said Cardinals head coach Jeff Winter, who’s in his 12th year at the helm. Willmar was originally scheduled to open the season Saturday at home against Monticello, only for the game to be postponed due to poor field conditions.

“It’s been two-and-a-half weeks,” Winter said. “It felt like a long beginning, but it was a good beginning.”

At the ninth minute, Willmar got on the board when a pass by Diego Gonzalez beat the Eagles’ defense and reached Abdullahi Mohamud, who put the ball past Apollo goalkeeper Dylan Coulter. The Cardinals tacked on two more first-half goals from Jairon Martinez Coto (22nd minute) and Anthony Reyes Jimenez (31st minute). Right before the break, Apollo cut the deficit to two with a header by Elijah Doyomo.

Thirteen seconds into the second half, Willmar’s Jemil Osman got the ball and did all the work himself for a Cardinal goal. A minute later, Mohamud popped in his second goal of the game.

Willmar tacked on three more goals in the second half, courtesy of Gonzalez, Martinez Coto and Jordy Contreras.

“What we were able to do was keep control and pass around them,” Winter said. “Apollo had to chase around a lot because we were moving the ball well.”

In net, Andrew Ziebarth stopped six shots en route to the victory.

The Cardinals are back at home at 5 p.m. Thursday for a match against Sartell.

Boys Soccer
Willmar 8,
St. Cloud Apollo 1

St. Cloud Apollo (0-1-0).....1 0 — 1

Willmar (1-0-0)................... 3 5 — 8

FIRST HALF – W: Abdullahi Mohamud (Diego Gonzalez) 9th minute … W: Jairon Martinez Coto (Gonzalez) 22nd minute … W: Anthony Reyes Jimenez (Jorge Zelaya Velasquez) 31st minute … SCA: Elijah Doyomo 36th minute

SECOND HALF – W: Jemil Osman 40th minute … W: Mohamud (Martinez Coto) 41st minute … W: Gonzalez (Jordy Contreras) 53rd minute … W: Martinez Coto (Alan Millan) 68th minute … W: Contreras (Osman) 79th minute

SHOTS ON GOAL – St. Cloud Apollo: 8 … Willmar: 19

GOALIE SAVES – Apollo: Dylan Coulter (11 saves) … Willmar: Andrew Ziebarth (6 saves)

Minnewaska 2,
Zimmerman 0

With two goals in two minutes, Minnewaska got the home win over Zimmerman at Glenwood.

Scoreless through the first 40 minutes, the Lakers got on the board in the 56th minute when Ethan Quelle scored on a pass from Blake Nelson. In the 57th minute, Nelson got in on the scoring with a goal of his own, with an assist going to Isaac Koenig.

Minnewaska goalie Isaac Meyer came up with three saves.

Zimmerman (0-2-0)................. 0 0 — 0

Minnewaska (1-1-0)................ 0 2 — 2

FIRST HALF – No goals

SECOND HALF – M: Ethan Quelle (Blake Nelson) 56th minute … M: Nelson (Isaac Koenig) 57th minute

SHOTS ON GOAL – Zimmerman: 3 … Minnewaska: 8

GOALIE SAVES – Zimmerman: Not available … Minnewaska: Isaac Meyer (3 saves)