Page 14/The Sun and News, Saturday, June 5, 2021Second-ranked Gull Lake a goal better than TK
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
From the opening
moments, Gull Lake head
coach Colton Johnson urged
his girls to put pressure on
the Trojans, to attack 1-v-1 at
every opportunity, and to
score one goal, then another
and another.
The Blue Devils won their
fair share of those 1-v-1 bat-
tles, but more often than not
another TK defender was
there to slide and help out
and clear the ball from trou-
ble.
The second-ranked team
in the state managed a first
goal, but that was all as the
Thornapple Kellogg varsity
girls’ soccer team battled the
Blue Devils in a 1-0 loss in
the Division 2 District
Semifinals at Harper Creek
High School in Battle Creek
Tuesday evening.
“They’re a good team. I
felt like overall, as a team,
we definitely competed with
them. I think we frustrated
them a lot,” TK head coach
Joel Strickland said. “I think
they had the assumption that
they were going to come in
and dominate our girls. I
think that was kind of their
mindset. You could just tell
in the beginning, especially
how we were playing togeth-
er as a team, it brought a lot
of frustration to their team
and that is what this team can
do.
“We’re a great team, and
honestly it could have been
our game as much as theirs
and they took advantage of
one opportunity and we
weren’t able to capitalize on
ours.”
The Blue Devils scored
the game’s only goal in the
37th minute. Gull Lake
freshman Maggie Westra
couldn’t get a shot off with
her left foot at the top of the
18 and tapped a pass to
senior teammate Anna
McKay who slammed a shothard past a diving Trojan
keeper, Katelyn Hildabrand.
Both Trojan keepers
Hildabrand and Tristen
Cross, in the second half,
made big saves to keep the
game tight. Moments before
the goal Hildabrand had
made a big save on the
Devils’ Maddie Bellinger as
she crashed in on the goal.
Cross went high in the air to
deflect or pull down as cou-
ple balls in the second half.
TK had its best couple
scoring opportunities as the
second half moved into its
second half. Trojan defender
Sydney Moerman had a free
kick from just outside the top
left corner of the box fly
inches high of the crossbar,
and Ainsley Oliver skipped a
shot in from just above the
top of the 18 that had Gull
Lake keeper Sarah Willard
on the ground to block. The
ball bounded away and sat
on the turf to the right of the
Blue Devil goal for what feltlike a long time before
Willard was able to get up
and get on it.
Strickland liked the way
his girls defended as a team
throughout the ballgame, and
saw his girls’ best attacks as
usual coming when they
worked the ball through the
midfield. The Blue Devils
did their best to pay special
attention to Emma Schut in
the midfield, but she still
managed to put forward a
couple successful runs with
the ball up to the attack.
The game got more physi-
cal as it progressed and the
Blue Devils began to control
possession in the offensive
end for much of the final ten
minutes.
“I think they were exhaust-
ed,” Strickland said of his
girls in the end. “We have
been battling a lot of differ-
ent injuries this year and
we’re a smaller team. I think
it says a lot about our team,
as far how much they left out
there on the field. They were
giving it everything they
could. At the end of the day,
I would rather see our team
come off just exhausted than
coming off like they have a
ton of breath left because
they’re not giving it all they
can.”
Gull Lake is 13-3 after the
win and will face Plainwell
in the district final back at
Harper Creek Saturday, June
5, at 11 a.m. TK ends the
season at 10-6-2.
The TK program has
grown accustomed to chas-
ing district and conference
championships in recent
years, and they were just shy
of both this spring. They
were bested in a shoot-out by
Grand Rapids Catholic
Central in the semifinals of
the OK Gold Conference
Tournament last month on an
evening when a TK win
would have secured them the
conference title.
The Thornapple Kellogg
girls won their Division 2
District opener 6-1 over the
Saxons at Hastings HighSchool last Wednesday (May
26) to earn the semifinalmatch with the Gull Lake
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Thornapple Kellogg senior Amelya Thorne (2) jumps in to try and keep Gull Lake’s
Anna McKay from advancing on the attack during their Division 2 District Semifinal
ballgame at Harper Creek High School in Battle Creek Tuesday. (Photo by Brett
Bremer)
Trojan defender Peyton Pratt pushes by Gull Lake attacker Maggie Westra to get
the ball out of her end during the first half of their Division 2 District Semifinal match
at Harper Creek High School in Battle Creek Tuesday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Thornapple Kellogg goalkeeper Katelyn Hildabrand
secures a Blue Devil shot in front of her net during the
Trojans’ 1-0 loss to No. 2-ranked Gull Lake in the
Division 2 District Semifinals at Harper Creek High
School in Battle Creek Tuesday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Iowa State dean’s
list includes local
residents
More than 10,500 Iowa
State University students
have been recognized for out-
standing academic achieve-
ment by being named to the
spring semester 2021 dean’s
list.
Students must have earned
a grade point average of at
least 3.50 on a 4.00 scale
while carrying a minimum of
12 credit hours of gradedcoursework to qualify at the
Ames, Iowa, university.
Local students on the
dean’s list include:
Alto – Thomas J. Mitchell.
Middleville – Karen T.
Vandervort.
Plainwell – Matthew T.
Yonkers.
Wayland – Mitchell J.
Hooker, Kinsee E. Lettinga.