GH soccer ties Okemos
Wed, Aug 20, 2008 
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BY MATT DEYOUNG
mdeyoung@grandhaventribune.com
A young Buccaneers' varsity soccer squad could have easily hung its head after giving up a goal less than two minutes into Tuesday's season opener against Okemos.
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Instead, Grand Haven picked up its play in all phases and put together a tremendous effort against the Chieftains, settling for a 1-1 tie on the artificial turf at Buccaneer Stadium.
"Any time you get scored on right away, it can be a huge demoralizer," said Bucs' coach Aaron Dean. "The kids realized it was kind of a fluke mistake. A ball was served in, a couple guys missed it, and it left a guy open on the back post, and he scored.
"It was just a couple bad things happening in a row. This was our first game, and everybody was a little on edge. Our theme for the night is, we knew we were going to make mistakes. We just wanted to minimize them."
The Buccaneers also made a few mistakes in the offensive third of the field, as they misfired on several very strong scoring opportunities.
However, early in the second half, junior Nick Heyboer made no mistake about his breakaway chance. Heyboer took a pass from Chris Buitenhuis, beat a defender and calmly pushed a shot past Okemos keeper Spencer Hintzman to tie the game at 1-1.
"I was pleased with how much pressure we put them under. If we can get things cleaned up and get a little more crisp, we'll be in good shape," Dean said. "This was a good showing for our first time out. We were the more aggressive team, a little bit quicker and more athletic. But we don't play a schedule where we can make mistakes and still get a victory."
Dean was pleased with the play of sophomore Colin Ottenbaker and junior Matt VanZytveld, both playing their first game in a varsity uniform.
"These are guys who we haven't seen at the varsity level yet. Colin was big defensively, and Matt was dangerous down the flank," Dean said. "Kris Talaga was as solid as he was last year, Chris Buitenhuis stepped up, and Nick Heyboer and Mike Rosso were just monster guys up top.
"Mike's effort, all the little things he did, created a lot of chances and put the defense under a lot of pressure."
The Buccaneers are right back at it Thursday as they play at Holland against the rival Dutch.
JUNIOR VARSITY: Grand Haven opened with an 8-0 victory over Okemos Tuesday. John Cherette scored twice while Chad Buitenhuis, Nate Rose, Jon Kline, Paul Byrne, Matt Davis and Dillon Dwyer each added single goals.
