SN 6-4-2022

Page 12/The Sun and News, Saturday, June 4, 2022

Highly ranked Plainwell tops TK ladies in district semifinal

Coach Strickland ends winning tenure at TK

Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Thornapple Kellogg varsi-
ty girls’ soccer coach Joel
Strickland won 143 games
during his dozen seasons
leading the Trojan program.
Getting win 144 would
have been great.
The TK Trojan team’s

season was ended by No.

5-ranked Plainwell in the

MHSAA Division 2 District

Semifinals at the Zeeland

East soccer complex

Tuesday. Plainwell, 16-1,

was set to face Zeeland West,

12-2-2, in the district final

Friday night, June 3.

TK ends the season with a

13-4-3 record overall.

“I felt like we played real-

ly well,” Strickland said.

“Outside of about a five min-

ute period in the second half,

I thought we to be honest

played well and I actually

thought we played good

enough to win.”

He said the first half was

one of the best halves of soc-

cer his girls played all spring.

The TK Trojans and the

Plainwell Trojans were knot-

ted at 0-0 at the half.

Goalkeeper Kate Hildabrand

was strong, and the defense

and midfield in front of her

were solid for TK throughout

her half in net.

Strickland said he thought

his girls frustrated Plainwell

with their counter attacks.

In the end, it was Plainwell

sophomore midfielder Kailah

Newcomb who scored two

goals about a minute apart

with a little over ten minutes

to play that secured the win

for her team. Her two goals

snapped a 1-1 tie.

Alex Thornton scored less

than two minutes into the

second half to put Plainwell

in front.

TK answered with a

well-performed set play.

Sydney Moerman rolled a

pass past a Plainwell wall

about 40 yards out from the

goal for a sprinting Kiah

Nichols. Nichols booted a

pass across the goal mouth

over the head of the Plainwell

keeper where Grace

McNabnay was waiting on

the other side to put it in

tying the game at 1-1.

“It is honestly a play that we

have run for years,” Strickland

said, while admitting his girls

haven’t been very successful

with it this spring. “I think the

first time I actually saw it was

my first or second year coach-

ing. I saw Grand Rapids

Christian run it at a district

game and stole it from them.

We have run it ever since. Set

play no 2. I think originally,

Alyvia Thorne ran over the

ball and she was No. 2 and we

named it that.”

The Trojans’ best chance

to score in the first half came

midway through the half.

Nichols made a play on a

cross by teammate Peyton

Pratt and collided with the

Plainwell keeper. The ball

found its way across the net

to TK’s Madilyn Chivis, but

she was unable to get it down

to get a shot off before the

Plainwell keeper snagged it.

“The first half, I thought

we played phenomenal,”

Strickland said. “We came

out with a lot of energy. We

honestly, I think took

Plainwell aback a little bit.”

Strickland announced to

his team after the contest that

it was his final one leading

the TK program. During his

12 seasons, really 11 due to

the canceled 2020 campaign,

Strickland’s teams were 143-

54-22. The only losing sea-

son the TK girls had under

his tenure was his first. TK

won two district champion-

ships and three conference

titles under his guidance,

with the help of some out-

standing assistant coaches

along the way Strickland

made sure to mention.

“The culture change defi-

nitely happened. You can’t

win games without good

players, but I think there is

something to be said about

implementing a culture of

winning. I remember when I

got to TK, when our girls

would do their team goals at

the start of the year the goals

were like beat South Christian.

Can we beat this one team?

We don’t have a culture of

winning when our goal is to

beat one team. Now, you

don’t see any of that.

“The goal is we want to

compete for a district. Win a

district. Compete for confer-

ence. Win conference. We

have done that. The reality is

outside of that very first year,

in the conference, we have

multiple second place finish-

es and multiple third place

finishes and we never fell

below that.”

Hildabrand, McNabnay,

Moerman and Nichols were

four of nine seniors on the

TK roster this spring joined

by Shayne Krystyniak,

Tristen Cross, Keanna

Dudik, Augustine Abshagen

and Aino Okko.

FHC outscores Scots in D2 Regional Semis

Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
After both teams gathered
around their keepers for their
own hugs, cheers and tears,
Caledonia senior Stella
Bottum was the last to start
trotting out of the west end of
the Forest Hills Central High
School stadium to get into
the handshake line in front of
the benches.
Before she could get there,
Forest Hills Central’s
Delaney Smith, Julia Brown
and Gabby Hendricks all
broke of their line to come
give her hugs.
It was always going to be
tough postseason for the
Fighting Scots this spring in
a regional with four of the
top eight-ranked teams in
the state in Division 2 in
their region. Forest Hills
Central, ranked No. 3, took
an 18-8 win over the visiting
Caledonia girls in the sec-
ond of two MHSAA
Division 2 Regional
Semifinals hosted by the
Rangers Wednesday.
Top-ranked East Grand
Rapids scored a 17-7 win
over Spring Lake in the first
semifinal of the day pitting
the Rangers and Pioneers in
Friday’s, June 3, regional
final.
Bottum had a team-high
five goals in the loss to the
Rangers. She scored on back-
to-back possessions within
47 seconds of each other to

pull her team within 5-3 five

and a half minutes into the

game after the Rangers took

a quick three-goal lead.

The Rangers though

clamped down on defense

after that third Caledonia

goal, and the Scots found it

tough to break through the

halo they set up around the

fan in front of their goal.

Forest Hills Central scored

six unanswered goals in the

next ten minutes to take con-

trol of the match.

Bottum finally stopped

that skid. The Rangers got a

restart in their defensive end,

but Bottum quickly caught

the Ranger ballcarrier from

behind and took possession

away, turned and fired the

ball into the goal.

Caledonia also got two

goals on the evening from

freshman Cambria Gaier and

one from senior Isabella

Paoletti.

The score was 14-5 at

the half. Gaier scored the

Scots’ first goal of the

game and their final goal

of the first half, finishing

off a restart in front of the

Ranger goal both times.

Paoletti scored the game’s

final goal with 65 seconds

left on the clock.

Throughout the night, the

Rangers’ Shannon Murphy

and Gabby Hendricks found

the net as needed. Hendricks

scored a match-high seven

goals. Murphy had four goals

and so did teammate Julia

Brown.

Forest Hills Central also

got two goals from Smith

and one from Maggie

Sneider.

Forest Hills Central moved

its record to 11-7 on the sea-

son. Caledonia falls to 12-

overall.

Caledonia opened the state

tournament May 16 with a

14-3 win at Northview.

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Caledonia’s Sophia Elers, Sophia Arendsen and

Elena Luraschi share a hug following their team’s

18-8 loss to Forest Hills Central in the MHSAA

Division 2 Regional Semifinal hosted by the Rangers

Wednesday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

Caledonia senior Isabella Paoletti is hit by Forest Hills Central’s Margaret

English as she fires a shot for the Scots’ final goal in a loss to the Rangers in the

MHSAA Division 2 Regional Semifinals hosted by FHC Wednesday in Grand

Rapids. (Photo by Brett Bremer)