The Austin girls’ soccer team bounced back from a wake-up-call defeat by tying Winona, 2-2, at Wescott Field on Thursday.

Friday, September 03, 1999

The Austin girls’ soccer team bounced back from a wake-up-call defeat by tying Winona, 2-2, at Wescott Field on Thursday.

Austin opened the season with a 10-2 loss to Rochester Century last week. After falling behind 2-0 early to Winona, the Packers began to play up to potential.

"We saw some great improvement," Coach David Ingalls said. "They saw in the first game that we had a long ways to go in conditioning and the basic stuff like ball handling, control and passing."

Austin tied the game on second-half goals by senior Jamie Nieland. Both times, the Austin attack used a series of sharp passes to find Nieland, who broke free from the Winona backfield on the way to each goal.

Megan Olsen and Bridget Burzinski earned assists on the first goal and second goal, respectively.

After allowing Winona’s early goals, including one on a header off a corner kick, the Austin defense tightened, while goal keeper Kellie Peterson shined, stopping close to 15 shots in the game.

Ingalls said Austin (0-1-1) played with intensity against Winona, something that was missing against Century.

"Down 2-0, we didn’t give up," Ingalls said. "It’s encouraging for us."

Austin plays at Mankato West on Tuesday.

Boys fall to Winhawks

The Austin High boys’ soccer team suffered 3-0 defeat at Winona Thursday night.

After opening the season with a 3-0 loss to Century at home last week, Austin High coach David Graham said the Packers improved their play on defense in their second game.

The Winhawks led 1-0 up until about 15 minutes left in the game.

Sophomore Shane Peterson started in goal for Austin.

"Shane played incredibly," Graham said. "The goals weren’t even his fault."

Austin will host Mankato West on Tuesday at Wescott Field.