I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Oct. 15, 1998
By Devlyn Brooks
Sometimes with a young sports program you can't measure the success by the number of wins they have. You have to measure it by the progress over the previous season.
That's what BSU soccer coach Dan Rogers was thinking Wednesday after his squad dropped their 14th straight game to Moorhead State 5-0 at home.
Although the Beavers were shutout, it was a 12-goal improvement over the last year when Moorhead shelled Bemidji 17-0.
"We play good soccer now," he said. "We may not score, but we play good, solid soccer."
Freshman goalie Angela Jo Ziebol played strong in the Beavers' net, making a number of difficult saves and keeping Bemidji in the match with a 1-0 halftime score.
Starting sluggish due to a bitterly cold wind, the Beavers spent much of the first half playing defense in their own zone and fending off Moorhead State attacks.
The Beavers managed only a couple of first half offensive pushes, and on their best chance to score freshman midfielder Stacy Montgomery shot wide on Moorhead goalie Missy Gressen.
In fact, for the rest of the game, Gressen could have sat on the bench as the Beavers only mustered one more shot in the second half, and that one went wide as well.
Much like the first half, Moorhead came out in the second half with more fire than BSU, keeping the ball trapped in Bemidji's zone for most of the period.
Scoring their insurance goal, MSU's Megan Henry scored on an unassisted breakaway at a little more than 7:30 in the second.
Suzanne Rebne received a gift at about the 66th minute as the Beavers' Carrie Cameron knocked in a goal on her own net, and it was awarded to Rebne for being the closet Moorhead player to the ball.
Moorhead added two more in the fourth on a Krystal Anderson penalty kick and rebound goal from Aimee Thibado, assisted by Becky Whitcomb.
"We should have scored, but Stacey (Montgomery) shot it wide on a breakaway. That could have made the whole difference," Rogers said. "We just need to start making the play that will galvanize our team."
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