Minot High’s Aleah Gibbons (left) and Minot North’s Anistyn Perrin both look to possess the ball during the second half of a WDA contest on Tuesday, April 7, at Sentinel Stadium. Mike Kraft/MDN

It was a tale of two halves for the Minot High girls soccer team on Tuesday, April 7, as it found itself squarely in the trenches of a two-front battle against two formidable foes in Minot North and the winds of Mother Nature.

The Majettes were held off the scoreboard through the first 40 minutes, but came out of the locker room with the wind on its side – or more accurately at their backs – and a bit more pep in their step.

Minot High scored in the opening three minutes of the second half and tacked on two more over the final 10 minutes as the Majettes continued an unbeaten regular-season streak that dates back to the 2019 season with a 3-0 victory over Minot North at Sentinel Stadium. Sophomore midfielder Kaylee Jackson netted her first two goals of the season and Aleah Gibbons recorded a pair of assists. The Majettes put up 10 shots – six on goal – with the wind at their back compared to four shots – two on goal – with the wind in their face.

“You have to understand that when you’re against the wind, you have to play possession to the feet and keep it low because you know anything high is going to do funny things on you, so it’s just a possession game when you’re against it,” Minot High coach Matt Pfau said. “With the wind, it’s still a possession game, but you can shoot from a little further out and play balls over the top and see if you press a little bit for some breakaways. It is a mindset going into the game that you have to remind them that the two halves are going to be different.”

The third meeting between the two Minot schools followed a much different format as the previous two from a year ago. In those matches, the Majettes did most of their damage in the opening half. They scored five goals in the first half in their inaugural meeting with Minot North in a 6-1 victory and netted four goals in the first 40 minutes in their second matchup: a 5-1 win for Minot High.

The Majettes (2-0-0 overall, 2-0-0 WDA) had to wait until the second half to get on the board. It was the result of their first corner kick of the match. Gibbons served a ball into the box and Jackson positioned herself in front of the net, heading in a ball past Minot North goaltender Camryn Guy in the 43rd minute.

Jackson wasn’t done. She added her second goal of the night in the 71st minute off a feed in front from Jayva McKibben from the far side. Guy made the initial save, but the rebound came back to Jackson, who tapped in the loose ball to give the Majettes a 2-0 lead.

The Majettes made it 3-0 in the 77th minute with a second goal off a set piece. Gibbons put a shot on target off a direct kick from the far side. Guy made the save, popping the ball into the air. MaKella Brekke crashed the net and kicked home the rebound.

“We always talk about making runs all the way through the goal and finishing them,” Pfau said. “All three goals were like that today on corner kicks and free balls where we just challenged their goalie and ran through it and we got a few in the back of the net and that was the difference.”

Defensively, Minot High limited Minot North to just one shot on goal in the second half with the Sentinels working against the wind. The Majettes didn’t concede either a corner kick or a free kick to Minot North in the second half after the Sentinels had four corner kicks in the first half.

“We showed a lot more effort and stuck to our man on defense and it really delivered,” Brekke said. “We have a lot to improve on, but we’re getting better each game. Us playing against the wind was harder for us, but I thought we played more together.”

Both teams had chances in the first half to break the scoreless tie. Minot High’s best opportunity came after one of its players was taken down in the box, awarding the Majettes a penalty kick. McKibben took the penalty kick, but sailed it high and over the crossbar in the 29th minute.

Minot North’s best scoring chance in the first half came off the foot of Kohlee Roberts, who already has a four-goal performance this season. The junior forward rocketed a shot from 20 yards out, but Minot High goaltender Kynsli Gillmore made a diving stop to her left to keep the Sentinels (2-1-0, 2-1-0) off the board.

Gillmore made five saves in the first half and six for the game. Guy finished with three saves.

“Kynsli Gilmore had two great saves in the first half to keep them off the board and that was really big going into halftime going against the wind in the first half,” Pfau said.

With the win, the Majettes are now unbeaten over their last 77 regular season games. Their last loss came to Bismarck High on May 9, 2019.

The Majettes still have a pair of games to play this week, beginning on Thursday, April 9, at Bismarck Century at 6 p.m. The Sentinels will look to rebound after suffering their first loss of the season when they host Jamestown at 7:30 p.m. That match is also on Thursday.