The first one is often the hardest.

Sunday, October 17, 1999

The first one is often the hardest. That was the case Saturday afternoon at Wescott Field for the Austin boys soccer team.

Austin controlled play through most of the game against the Owatonna Huskies but were unable to score until less than 13 minutes remained in the game.

A goal off the foot of Mike Inthisane was enough for the stiff Austin defense and the Packers went on to win 2-0. It was the Packers first playoff win in Austin’s four-year soccer history.

The wind was blowing hard from north to south, the opposite that it does on most days at Wescott. The Packers were the first to receive the advantage of the big gusts. They had the ball in the Owatonna end throughout the first half and outshot the Huskies 14-6 in the first half. Inthisane had four shots on goal as did Chris Lynch, who scored Austin’s second goal of the game, but Austin was unable to dent the Owatonna defense.

"I was worried that it was scoreless at the half when we had the wind," Austin coach David Graham said.

In the second half, Austin had to fight against the wind and some physical Owatonna play. The scoring chances for Austin were few and, of course, far between. It didn’t help that Vladimir Blagojevic was unable to play after suffering a severe ankle sprain Thursday night in Austin’s game against Mayo.

Austin finally got the goal they needed at the 12:48 mark. Erin Heimer took a free kick from the midfield. His strong leg got the ball through the stiff breeze and into the penalty box. The ball was kicked around a couple times before it went to the foot of Inthisane. He put a high shot on goal. Owatonna goal keeper Ryan Kronebusch got his fingers on the ball but it slipped away and it went in for the score.

"I was playing my game and it was kind of my goal to score," Inthisane said. "I think there was a lot of spin on my shot and he wasn’t able to catch it."

A little over a minute later Austin scored again. Frederico Pastrone was fouled about 25 yards out to set up a free kick for Austin. Lynch took it. He also drove a high, hard shot. It was out of the reach of the goal keeper and hit the bottom of the cross bar and dropped in for the goal.

"It was a good battle, a good win for us," Graham said. "We did what we needed to do to get the win. We overcame the adversities of a tough wind and some chippy play and the loss of Vlade."

Blagojevic should be back for Tuesday’s Section 1AA quarterfinals game at Eagan.