by Ben Murphy
Sports Writer
The McBain Northern Michigan Christian soccer team was able to play on its home field for their Division 4 district opener on Monday. The Comets were taking on Pentwater, and had what appeared to be a comfortable lead, but had to survive a late rally to win 5-4.
“Rough game for us,” head coach Taylor Mulder said. “We let one in early and then we were able to establish a 5-1 lead through some excellent offensive play.”
That play included two goals from Tucker Tossey, Barret Bosscher had a goal and an assist, Nathan Eisenga had a goal and two assists, Isaac Bowden netted a goal as well and Logan Hard had an assist.
From there, things took a turn for the Comets though, when their starting goalie Blake DeZeeuw was injured.
“Sadly, Blake took a nasty slide tackle in the first half and was out for the remainder of the half,” Mulder said. “He did play some in the second half, but we ended up pulling him out again due to health and safety concerns.”
Blake DeZeeuw ended the game with four saves in net, and Ty VanHaitsma was able to make three saves after being thrown into duty.
“Special credit to Ty for stepping in and playing goalie on short notice and in such an important game with minimal real game experience,” Mulder said. “Pentwater got 3 goals on us late which just goes to show how important a solid experienced goalie is in the game of soccer. Thankfully we were able to pull out in the end and look forward to Buckley on Saturday, hopefully with Blake in net.”
NMC (13-3-4 overall) takes on takes on Buckley on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lakeview, for the district championship. The district winner moves on to a regional semi-final in Big Rapids on Wednesday.