Soccer games can be played in more weather than most outdoor sports.
It was probably a good thing play was paused when it was Tuesday evening, though, even with Bismarck head coach Ricardo Pierre-Louis wanting to keep playing.
“We wanted to play a full game and the score was zero-zero (when the game was paused),” Pierre-Louis said. “Maybe if it had been one-zero in our favor I’d have said yes, let’s stop.”
With less than 20 minutes remaining in a scoreless tie between West Region foes Bismarck High and Minot at the Bowl, lightning forced a stoppage in play.
Shortly thereafter, with heavy rain moving quickly into the area, and the 30-minute weather delay timer continuously being reset due to regular lightning flashes, both the Bismarck-Minot game and the following Century-Mandan game were called off.
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With just 19 minutes of the 80-minute contest remaining between the Demons and Magicians, the game was ruled as complete and both teams will receive a tie in the West Region standings.
The Century-Mandan game was postponed to a later date.
“It’s important for us to take points,” Pierre-Louis said. “We don’t want to give points away like we did today, today we gave Minot a point and couldn’t get three points for ourselves.”
Before the break, Bismarck had the advantage against the Magicians, despite the scoreless tie.
Outshooting Minot 7-3 and holding a definitive advantage in corner kicks, the Demons had put the pressure on the Magicians’ defensive scheme.
“The pressure was definitely on Minot,” Pierre-Louis said. “We played a good game, and they gave us a lot of respect. We couldn’t create a lot of chances with the pace of play being so slow. The weather, and the temperature, worked for them and we couldn’t score before the pause.”
The weather before the break, which included low-90s temperatures, forced one or two Demon players to the sidelines earlier than expected due to cramping.
Another reason Pierre-Louis wanted to continue playing was the drop in temperature, which coincided with an increase in Bismarck chances on Minot’s end of the field.
“It’s one of the reasons why I was hoping the weather would cooperate,” Pierre-Louis said. “When it started getting cooler, we started raising the pace of play and getting more chances. If the weather had cooperated while getting cooler, we might have had a better shot at scoring.”
The premature ending due to weather costs Bismarck its unbeaten streak in conference play, although they do take a temporary one-point lead over Century in the region standings, 7-6.
Bismarck now moves on to prepare for Mandan, its opponent on Thursday at 7:30 pm That game will be played at Dacotah Centennial Park in Mandan.
“We learned today that we’re a good team, because Minot is a good opponent and we played well against them,” Pierre-Louis said. “It gave our guys some confidence that we can control games early on. We’ll need to build on that mentality when we play Mandan on Thursday, starting with high intensity and making sure they don’t have the time and space to play their game.
“We want to set a standard where we don’t give up points, we earn them.”
Century also returns to action Thursday, taking on Jamestown at the Bowl. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 pm start.
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