team picked up a pair of wins in the last seven days and in the bargain they picked up an extra index point for when the playoff picks come out this weekend.

Northfield's Kelsey Langley tries to get a foot on a loose ball in front of the U-32 goal in last Monday's game at Garvey Field. The Lady Marauders put together one of their finest performances of the season in the game against the Raiders and came away with a 2-0 win to improve their record to 5-4-3. The Lady Marauders traveled up to Lyndon last Thursday and knocked off the Vikings by a 2- 0 count and this Monday, in a game that was rescheduled from last Tuesday, Northfield defeated Div. II U-32, 2-0. With the wins the Ladies of the Maroon and White went over .500 for the first time since the early season. Their record is 5-4-3 with two games left to play.

At home against U-32 the Lady Marauders controlled play right from the opening whistle and never let up for the full 80 minutes. " I've got to say hats off to U-32," said Northfield coach John Diebold. "They had a lot of regular players sick so they played with a mix of varsity and J.V. players." Northfield lit up the scoreboard at the 8:37 mark when Mehgan McMullen capped off a heavy Marauder rush. That goal was set up by a nice play by Elana Van Arnam when she hung tough and kept the ball from going over the end line next to the Raider net. She went to one knee to keep the ball in and then got up and kept the ball in play. Her pass to McMullen was right on the money and Mehgan found the back of the U-32 net for a 1-0 Northfield lead. This was a hard fought contest that saw two yellow cards awarded in the first half. One for U-32 for seemingly phantom contact and one to Northfield late in the half after a collision at midfield..

The Marauder lead remained at 1-0 into the first ten minutes of the second half despite all the pressure that Northfield mustered. That pressure, especially in the second half,resulted in six Marauder corner kicks. The second Marauder goal came off one of those corner kicks.

With 31 minutes left in the game Melissa Kelsey placed a corner kick from the left corner right in front of the net. In the scramble in front of the goal, Mehgan McMullen took advantage of the confusion and drove home her second goal of the afternoon to make it 2-0, Northfield.

In the remaining 31 minutes the ball rarely left the Raider end of the field. Kelsey Langley kept the crowd on their toes with several booming shots including a huge hard blast from about 35 yards out that hit the crossbar and was last seen headed for downtown Northfield. " I think that one left a mark on the crossbar," said Kelsey's dad, Bill Langley, as he snapped photos along the sidelines. Impressive as Kelsey's shots were they didn't find the back of the Raider net and Northfield had to settle for the 2-0 win. The difference in shots just about tells the story. The Lady Marauders out-shot the Raiders 17-6.

" We Controlled the pace today. We have been working on patience with the ball and that paid off today. I was happy with the total team effort. I was able to make group substitutions today and get everybody some playing time. That can only help us as we head into the playoffs," said coach Diebold.

Last Thursday at Lyndon The lady Marauders got goals from Keli McLellan and Morgan Lamorey and Northfield goalkeeper Kristi Luce only had to make five saves as the Lady Marauders defeated the Vikings 2-0. "These girls are improving every day. They do the things we work on in practice when they get into a game. It's nice to see the things we work so hard on all come together in a win," said coach Diebold. The coach is also impressed with more than the girl's soccer skills. "When we go on the road the Girl's always represent the school and the community with pride. They set the standard foe solid sportsmanship," the coach said.