2026 Star News Fall Sports Preview Part 2 | Page 5

Elk River Star News Saturday, September 5, 2026 | 37

Sports www. facebook. com / elkriverstarnews

The Star News welcomes your sports news and story ideas. Send to editor. erstarnews @ apgecm. com or 506 Freeport Ave., Suite A, https:// twitter. com / starnewsmn
Elk River, MN 55330.

Lynch brilliant in goal as Elks blank Totino-Grace

Junior goalkeeper Ani Lynch made 12 saves as Elk River defeated Totino- Grace 2-0 on Monday, Aug. 31
ERIK NELSON Sports Reporter
Elks junior goalkeeper Ani Lynch shut out Totino Grace on Monday, Aug. 31.
She made 12 saves, including a few of the highlight-reel variety, as Elk River( 1-0-0, 1-0-0) defeated Totino-Grace( 1-1-0, 0-1-0), 2-0, to open the 2026 season at Jerry Schempf Field.
Elks head coach Brian Steuter said Lynch is a special goalkeeper. One of the Elks’ assistant coaches, Breanna Bernardson, was
also a goalkeeper for an Elks team coached by Steuter. Bernardson is a 2023 graduate of Elk River High School and last played for the Elks during the 2022 season.
“ She’ s got great instincts,” Steuter said.“ She’ s definitely someone we’ re going to rely on. We need to do a better job at helping her and limiting shots, but that will come with time. We’ ll get better with that.”
The Elks offense lent her a hand as well, scoring two goals off set pieces, with one coming in each half. Senior forward Lauren Lipski and freshman forward Olivia Modeen each scored for Elk River and assisted on each other’ s goals.
Lynch said she was playing in the moment Monday.
“ I felt good about it,
giving it my all so I could get that win,” Lynch said.
During the game, there was a mandatory hydration break during each half. The MSHSL authorizes referees to allow hydration breaks during hot weather.
Steuter said it was important to have a hydration break at the beginning of the season.
“ You’ ve got to be smart about how we take care of kids,” Steuter said.“ With heat and humidity, conditioning isn’ t up to par for everyone yet. It’ s about being safe in those moments.”
WHAT’ S NEXT The Elks host Coon Rapids Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 5 p. m. at Jerry Schempf Field.
Steuter said it was crucial for the Elks to start the
ERIK NELSON
Elks senior forward Lauren Lipski( in black) dekes past a defender during Elk River’ s 2-0 win over Totino-Grace on Monday, Aug. 31. Lipski scored a first-half goal and assisted on freshman forward Olivia Modeen’ s second-half header.
season with a win, knowing the season lasts only 16 games.
“ We’ ve got a lot of younger kids,” he said.“ It’ s
a brand-new backline. The midfield is new. It’ s a tough conference. We’ re going to have some tough games. For us, it’ s focusing on
improving the little things every day, so that hopefully gives us a chance to be competitive in time for sections.”

Thunder boys soccer has exciting future
ERIK NELSON Sports Reporter
Fall Sports Preview 2026
The Thunder boys soccer team’ s goal this fall is to continue improving and developing as players and people while competing for titles in the Mississippi 8 Conference and Section 6-2A.
Head coach: Joshua Derkey
2025 record: 7-9-1; 3-4-1 in the Mississippi 8 Conference( lost to Princeton in the Section 6-2A quarterfinal)
Key returning players: Junior forward Jonathan Derkey led the 2025 Thunder in scoring with 14 goals and eight assists. Senior midfielder Lane Johnson scored six goals last season. Freshman goalkeeper Talin
Johnson made 49 saves and played 14 matches, finishing with a 1.34 goalsagainst average.
Key departures: Six seniors from the 2025 team graduated: defenders Thor Andresen and Markus Hogan; forwards Mason Golla and Jackson Helm; and midfielders Max Holm and P. J. Horman.
Important games: Tuesday, Sept. 8, at North Branch; Thursday, Sept. 10, vs. Big Lake; Monday, Sept. 14, vs. Monticello; Saturday, Sept. 19, at St. Paul Johnson; Monday, Sept. 21, at Princeton; Monday, Sept. 28, at Becker; Tuesday, Oct. 6, vs. Sauk Rapids-Rice; Thursday, Oct. 8, vs. Delano.
Coach Derkey’ s expectations for 2026:“ We’ ve consistently had more successful seasons. I expect more of the same this season. I want us to be competitive, but also respectful of the game and the school experience as a whole, making sure we’ re exuding confidence but being good sports. We finished bottom two in the conference. I would expect us to be midtable or higher in the conference, and in the section we cannot be one of the lower seeds this year. We’ re a competitive group of players, and hopefully, we’ re going to have exciting, close games.”