Sweet revenge for GH soccer

Fri, Sep 19, 2008    to del.icio.us

Three times last fall, the Rockford Rams and Grand Haven Buccaneers met on the soccer field.

Each and every time, the Rams came out victorious.

But Grand Haven gave a strong reminder Thursday that this is a new season, and its resurgent team is seeing many more positive results.

Grand Haven blitzed the Rams with three goals in the first 20 minutes of action Thursday at Buccaneer Stadium, and avoided any letdown in the second half, scoring a 4-1 victory. The Buccaneers, who are ranked No. 7 in the latest Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association rankings, remain undefeated this season at 11-0-1. Rockford, a team that was an honorable mention pick in Division 1, falls to 8-2-1 — its second loss in a row.

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"I know the guys remember those losses (last season). I was on JV, so I wasn't a part of it, but I remember watching districts and seeing Rockford beat us," said Grand Haven's Matt VanZytveld, who scored two goals and set up the Bucs' first goal with a stellar corner kick. "This was a big win for us."

While Nick Heyboer continues to score goals at a rapid pace for the Bucs — he notched his 24th of the season Thursday — Grand Haven is far from a one-star team. That was evident by VanZytveld and senior Mike Rosso's production that frazzled the Rams early on. As a complete team, the Bucs are just tougher to match up with offensively, said coach Aaron Dean.

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"First off, as a team we're a lot faster than we were a year ago," Dean said. "With the way Nick has been playing, he gets a lot of space and creates. I'm not sure what teams are doing to try to slow him down, but if they do focus all their attention at him, we've got other kids who can step up. Rosso got a goal tonight and is really understanding his role and Matt had two goals, and he was a kid who was on JVs last year and we didn't have. We have a lot of weapons."

Grand Haven's pinpoint passing and aggressive play on any 50-50 ball set the tone, and it seemed the Bucs took full advantage of every opportunity because of their hustle. The first came on VanZytveld's corner kick 10 minutes into the contest, that forced a play from Rockford goalie Sean Lewis. Lewis got a hand on the ball and attempted to punch it out of box. Unfortunately for Lewis, he sent the ball right at the Bucs' Rosso, who used a terrific header to beat the Rams' net minder.

Only three minutes later, Rosso was credited with his first assist, finding VanZytveld streaking free toward the Rams' goal near the sideline.

"I was just staying wide, like I've been doing all season," VanZytveld said. "(Rosso) was looking wide and hit me with a great pass and I was able to slide it past the goalie."

Heyboer made it a 3-0 contest with 20 minutes, 21 seconds showing on the clock, as Connor Dault sent a nice pass to the wide side and let Heyboer create. The junior got an edge on a Rams' defender, and sent a perfect shot into the net at a tough angle.

"Getting that three-goal head start, that really gave us a boost," Bucs' defender Ted Cotton said, part of a crew that limited Rockford to only one shot on goal in the first half. "Coach told us that we needed to work hard right off from the start, and I think those goals really hurt (Rockford's) performance."

Rockford entered the second half with a little more flash in their step, but it was deflated by VanZytveld, whose unassisted goal 10 minutes into the half pushed Grand Haven's lead to 4-0.

"We're just clicking a lot better," VanZytveld said after Grand Haven outshot the Rams 9-7. "Like Nick and I, we've been playing together since we were 10. We always look for each other."

The Bucs' shutout bid was denied at 21:57, despite an apparent hand ball that went uncalled right before Rockford's goal from senior Ryan Curtis.

But the score didn't dampen the Bucs' overall defensive showing, which Dean labeled as stellar — especially in the first half. He said Cotton played his best game of the season and was also impressed with goalie Will Morlock, who posted four saves. His best occurred with 13:30 left, when a Rockford forward got behind Grand Haven's defense, but Morlock charged and knocked the ball free, breaking up a potential easy goal.

Dean also gave kudos to midfielder Kris Talaga and defender Jeff Reame.

With the Bucs still unbeaten at this point, the team is starting to think about a perfect regular season — although it still has many challenges awaiting.

"More than anything we just want to keep going strong and not worry about our record," added VanZytveld. "We're more concerned about the big wins at districts and regionals which are more important."

Grand Haven has another tough test tonight, as it hosts Hudsonville Unity Christian at 7 p.m. The Crusaders are ranked No. 2 in Division 2.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Grand Haven fell to Rockford, 2-1. John Cherette scored off an assist from Jon Kline, while Ryan Schoonover played a strong game in the midfield.