By Nick Gerhardt
Northfield senior Cam Mellgren’s last-second goal lifted the Raiders to a thrilling 8-7 victory over Lakeville South Thursday at Memorial Field in Northfield.
With two seconds remaining in the game, George Peterson found Mellgren open on a restart and Mellgren got his shot off just before the final horn sounded to give Northfield (3-3, 1-0 Big 9) its third straight victory.
The Cougars (1-2, 0-1 South Suburban) rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie the game with 3:04 left to play on a goal from Alexander Morelli. Lakeville South’s Isaac Larson scored with 8:14 left in the fourth quarter to make it a one-goal game.
The Raiders took control of a back-and-fourth game in the third quarter behind a pair of goals from Will Downs and one from Peterson. Peterson broke a 4-4 halftime tie with a goal that came with 10:36 to play.
The Cougars tied the game once more with a goal from Oscar Gerlach with 9:21 to go in the third quarter. Downs scored a minute later to regain the lead 6-5 and extended the lead less than a minute after that to push it to 7-5.
Northfield and Lakeville South traded goals throughout the first half. Cooper Rand scored on the man advantage with 7:45 to go in the first quarter for a 1-0 Raiders lead. The Cougars came back with two straight goals to close out the quarter with a 2-1 lead. Gerlach had a goal and Trevor Jex added another.
Bridger Riley tied things just two minutes into the second quarter. Lakeville South’s Blake Hjelm put his team up 3-2 midway through the quarter before Peterson tied the game 3-3 a little more than a minute later. Grant Selchow added a goal with 3:17 to play in the half for a 4-3 lead, but the Cougars tied it with a goal from Dawson Sheets with 48.5 second to go in the half.
The Raiders will face Owatonna (0-3) Monday in Owatonna at 7:30 p.m.