By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
A balanced offensive attack helped propel the Saugatuck girls soccer team past archrival Fennville on Thursday, April 27.
Iris Kuipers, Adele Nieuwsma, Avery Smith and Jenn Schock each scored a goal as the Trailblazers posted the 4-1 victory over the visiting Blackhawks.
Saugatuck added two more wins in the next four days—downing Covenant Christian 2-1 at home on Friday, April 28, and upending South Haven 3-0 on the road on Monday, May 1—to run its winning streak to eight. The Trailblazers improved to 9-1 in the process.
Fennville coach Mark Gray knew Saugatuck would present a difficult challenge for his team.
“Overall, we struggled to match (Saugatuck’s) energy and speed of play,” Gray said. “They came out in the first half and kept us mostly on our heels defensively.”
Despite the final score, Gray was pleased with his team’s effort, especially in the first half. In particular, Gray liked what he saw from goalie Bailey Zuroske as well as defenders Ithzel Hernandez and Ellie Merson.
“We did a pretty good job of keeping anything easy away from them,” Gray said. “Bailey made some timely saves coming out, while Ithzel and Ellie did well to match their speed and pull Saugatuck offsides a few times in the first half.”
In the end, though, the Trailblazers were simply too much and wore down the Blackhawks.
“After the first goal went in against us, you could see some of the air come out of our girls,” Gray said. “They had played hard and our bench wasn’t as deep missing a few girls with illness this week. Saugatuck took advantage of any of our mistakes out of the back and used it to put the ball in the back of the net and transition quickly.”
In addition to her goal, Kuipers recorded a pair of assists. Mia Zerfas also chipped in with an assist.
After stepping outside the SAC Lakeshore to pick up its win over Covenant Christian, Saugatuck returned to divisional play with its win over South Haven.
Schock was the offensive star for the Trailblazers, scoring twice. Smith accounted for the other goal.
Erin Moerler, Neave Rewa and Maddie Klein each had one assist.
Defensively, Kennedy Gustafson earned the shutout in goal as the Trailblazers moved to 4-0 in the division to remain atop the standings.
Sunday, October 06, 2024
