GH disposes of rival WO

Thu, May 8, 2008

A dominating first half was enough to make up for a lackluster second half for the Grand Haven varsity girls soccer team as the Buccaneers beat the rival West Ottawa Panthers Wednesday, 3-2.

Grand Haven scored all three of its goals in the opening 40 minutes, then watched as the Panthers made things very interesting in the closing half with back-to-back goals and several other good scoring chances.

"We kind of felt like we were just sitting back watching and not going after the 50-50 balls," said Grand Haven senior Evan Creswell, a key cog in the Bucs' outstanding defense. "We were scrambling around."

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That was a stark contrast to the first half, win which the Bucs had everything going their way.

"The first half, we were passing real well. We were on top of it," Creswell said. "We really came out energized."

The victory helps Grand Haven improve to 9-1-3 overall and, more importantly, 5-0 in O-K Red Conference games. West Ottawa was one of the teams that had a chance to catch the Buccaneers in the league standings, but with the loss falls two games back at 3-2. The Panthers are 6-2-2 overall.

Just being involved in the race for the conference title has made this spring special, according to Creswell.

"We're having a lot of fun this year," she said. "I thought we would do pretty good, but we've been doing really good."

Grand Haven was extremely impressive in the opening half Wednesday. They dominated nearly every facet of the game, from possession to aggression and everything in between.

Grand Haven got on the board first with 16 minutes gone in the opening half as midfielder Laura Terry hit a corner kick that Andrea Norman headed into the net for a 1-0 lead.

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Seven minutes later, the Bucs made it 2-0 as Emily Bunn beat a defender and put a shot on goal, which was blocked by Panthers' keeper Katie Overway. But the sophomore gave up a rebound, and Michelle Michaels took advantage, knocking the loose ball into the net.

With 11 minutes to play in the half, the Bucs again scored off a corner kick as Terry served one up that skipped off Overway's fingertips and landed dangerously in front of the Panthers' goal. Grand Haven's Aliina Weykamp and Heather Koats were both right there, and Koats, a senior, knocked the ball into the twine for a 3-0 advantage.

"The first half was awesome soccer," Grand Haven coach Cor Damhuis said. "It was pretty soccer. We had good possession and we were winning 5-0-50 balls. We were making runs without the ball, and we were crashing their goal."

The game did a complete 180 after halftime as West Ottawa quickly took control of the game.

Panthers' forward Jen Kuipers put on a terrific display of speed and precision less than 10 minutes into the half as she beat a Buccaneer defender down the left sideline, then came in one-on-one with Buccaneer goalie Katie Malnight. Malnight came out to trim down the angle, but Kuipers hit a perfect shot that snuck between the post and the Bucs' goalie for a 3-1 game.

The Panthers made it 3-2 with 15:42 remaining as Kuipers crossed a pass to Mandy Brondyke, who knocked the ball past Malnight.

West Ottawa nearly tied the game with four minutes to play, but a shot toward an open net deflected off another Panther player before the Bucs were able to clear it out of danger.

"Toward the end, we made an adjustment and put Creswell back as a true sweeper and Sam Dykema as a stopper, but really, what that did was clutter it up more," Damhuis said. "They absolutely took it to us the second half. I would like to think it was because we came out flat-footed. I don't know if the girls thought they had it won, up 3-0, but they were not aggressive, and our passing was not on."

One player who made her presence felt throughout the game was Weykamp, a freshman who has burst on the scene this spring. Weykamp features great speed and outstanding ball control. Especially in the first half Wednesday, everything the Bucs did on offense seemed to go through her.

"Aliina is a very skilled player who reads the game very well," Damhuis said. "Add that to the hustle of Laura Terry and that makes for a pretty awesome pair of center midfielders for us."

Malnight made a couple nice stops throughout the game, and the Bucs' defenders, including Creswell, Sarah Rose, Kelly Boers and Krista Clement helped limit the Panthers' chances, especially in the first half.

The Bucs will need to be on top of their game Friday as they go on the road to battle a rugged Rockford team. The Rams are 4-0-1 in the league. Grand Haven finishes its O-K Red schedule next Tuesday against Jenison.

JUNIOR VARSITY: The Buccaneers settled for a 2-2 tie with West Ottawa Wednesday. Currin Hall and Sarah Kober scored goals for Grand Haven (9-1-3) while Alex Concannon and Katie VanZytveld also played well.

FRESHMEN: Grand Haven defeated Grandville Tuesday, 2-0. Emily DePree and Lindsey Burnside each scored for the Bucs, with Jacqueline Destrampe providing an assist for the Bucs (4-4-2).