Coon Rapids won its home opener April 25 with a rout over district-rival Anoka 12-4.

Anoka senior Mollie Kronberg, left, looks to shoot on the Cardinals net in the first half April 25. Photo by Jason Olson

The Cardinals (3-1) led 5-0 at the half before Anoka (0-3) came to life, once again in its second half surge in what has become a characteristic coach Rachel Frosch hopes to spread out as the season moves along.

Coon Rapids led 7-0 before Anoka’s Mollie Kronberg scored with 15:15 left in the second half. Tornadoes McKenna Parent and Sarah Wells scored 15 seconds apart to make it 8-3 before Crystal Marshall scored the final Anoka goal.

The offensive power combined with the defensive patience that Coon Rapids showed simply overwhelmed the Tornadoes with a diverse attack.

Six players had two or more points for Coon Rapids as Sami DeJoy and Amanda Michalski collected hat tricks each while Stephanie Tomczyk had a three-point game (two goals, one assist). Bri Havelka and Chelsea Cyert added a goal and assist a piece and Libby Storrick had a pair of goals.

Frosch said the final score didn’t really reflect how close the game actually was.
“We have a lot of individual, young talent,” she said, three games into the 2011 campaign. “And they have a great goalie that we didn’t test nearly enough to win. I felt we didn’t shoot enough in the first half and that really was the difference.”

Four games into the Cardinals season and precise cross-field passes allowed them to move the ball quickly. They cut through the Tornadoes defense with the ball in the cross on end-to-end runs using its team speed.

Coon Rapids senior middie Ally Heida, left, carries the ball while Anoka's McKenna Parent applies pressure. Photo by Jason Olson

“We’re blessed with team speed which gives us the ability to run out of a lot of pressure,” Coon Rapids coach Jeff DeJoy said.

Coon Rapids’ defense also stood up to the test, anchored by goalie Crystal Amunrud who carries over her experience as a Senior Goalie of the Year finalist in ice hockey to make 13 saves. She helped the Cardinals surrender the second-fewest goals in the state last spring.

The Cardinals defense has surrendered three, two and four goals after No. 4 ranked Stillwater scored eight times in the season-opener loss.

DeJoy said the team wanted to work on the number of penalties against. “We’ve been in a rut lately with the penalties we’re taking,” he said. “A lot of stick fouls and we’ve been able to get away with them so far.”

Both programs continue to make strides in their third season of varsity play.

“The first year we wanted to learn how to control the ball and the second year we developed how to catch and throw so now we’re to the point where we can put in systems and patterns which is coming along very well,” DeJoy said.

Coon Rapids really experienced a breakout second-season with a 13-3 record and nearly included a Northwest Suburban Conference title.