Soccer Review
Gladwin schooled by Tawas
The Gladwin boys’ varsity soccer team traveled to Tawas Monday where they lost 8-0 to the powerful Braves team. The G’s fell behind 4-0 at the half, and the Braves continued to pour it on in the second half. Karson Russell started the game in net and played fairly well,” according to Coach Jerome Smalley: “I knew that Tawas would be a strong test for us and they played great.” the coach commented. “I was happy with our effort, but if we want to compete with the better teams in our area we need to improve.”
Gladwin fares no better in McBain
Gladwin travelled to McBain following their difficult loss to Tawas, and found the same result in McBain, as they suffered a 6-0 loss to a strong McBain team. Coach Smalley knows he has some work to do with this young squad quickly. “We have to improve out defense,” Gladwin coach Jerome Smalley said. “We aren’t tight enough on defense; we allowed too many open shots. We also need to work on making quicker decisions with the ball.” Gladwin’s Dalton Danielka made five saves.” We are very young,” Smalley said, “but they have a lot of room to improve, that’s for sure.”
After two tough losses, Coach Smalley and his Gladwin squad are looking to improve quickly, to be able to put in a winning season this year, and get back to the level that Gladwin soccer is used to performing at.
Houghton Lake and Roscommon battle
under the lights
In both teams first game of the season, The Bobcats defeated Roscommon 5-1 under the lights in a north vs. south division NMSL game. Coach Bockelman was rather pleased with his teams’ performance. “We came out strong controlling the midfield just as we planned with our ball control and timely passes. Our early conditioning paid off as we out ran their squad and had 24 shots on goal in the first half alone. Matt Muirhead scored two goals in the first half off assists by Jimmy Garrett and Joel Kubiak. Their keeper made several nice saves to keep them in the game.”
Coach Bockelman was also happy with his teams overall performance even after the quick lead in the first half. “The second half was more of the same. Just as we were short of players last year against them, they were just fielding a minimum amount tonight. Therefore, we switched fields a lot and center defenseman Garett Stimac kept them running with several one touch long clears to wear them down.”
The scoring began to slow down some with Matt Muirhead getting his hat trick and forward Jimmy Garrett and midfielder Brendon Hans getting a ball into the net as well. Matt also ended the night with an assist along with a second by freshmen Joel Kubiak and Jared Roll.
Coach Bockelman also added, “They slipped one late goal in on us with inexperienced defenseman on the corners and our new keeper Nathan Shavalia mistiming a high ball. Keeper Nathan ended the night with five saves and the team had a total of 43 shots on goal.”
Houghton Lake continues to play strong
The Bobcats hosted Leroy Pine River, and continued to dominate as they dealt with Pine River handily with an 8-4 victory for the day. Not wasting any time to prove dominance, Houghton Lake piled up five points in the first half, and only gave one to Pine River. They then matched them in goal tally for the second half at three each to squash any notion of a comeback. The bobcats are on an early tear this year, and could wind up being the team to beat in the conference if they continue to use their strong attack and stingy defense, along with their team spirit and gritty determination to make Bobcat nation proud.
Clare blanked by Freeland
In a one-sided competition, Freeland shut down the Pioneer offense by controlling the pitch from start to finish, leaving Clare on the wrong side of a 7-0 shutout. Clare was only able to muster three shots, and allowed scores from five different Freeland players. Clare will need to tighten up defensively, as well as find ways to get some shots to the net for more scoring opportunities. The team will have to do some soul searching and find that winning Pioneer spirit sooner than later.
Clare shutout again by Hemlock
With only a day to recoup and mentally block out the anguish of a 7-0 shutout, the Pioneers faced a very talented Hemlock team who took full advantage of the low spirits of the home team, as Clare walked off the field with a 5-0 loss. Four different Hemlock attackers were able to find a hole in Clare’s defense, with one of them doubling up on the goal count for the day. Hemlock was able to find the back of the net twice in the first half, and then used the low morale of Clare to sneak in another three goals in the second half. The Pioneer pitch monsters will have to dig deep to crawl out of their losing streak and find a glimmer of hope in what they could still accomplish yet this year.
Roscommon dominates
the net
The Bucks will probably need to replace the netting at their fields after burning eight goals in the first half against Fife Lake Forest Area. Thor Pruebe led the way n scoring with two goals, and the other contributors were Bradley Briggs, Devon McDonald, Gage Gabalis, Michael Faulkner, Dillion Jaskowski, and Matt Milnes. Coach Tim McClure was very happy with his teams performance “It was a good game for us; we worked hard on fundamentals during practice this week, and it’s beginning to pay off,” first year Roscommon coach Tim McClure said. “We couldn’t even field a complete team earlier this year, so it’s been a growing process for all of us.”
“I coached AYSO soccer way back when, but I don’t have a strong soccer background,” added McClure. “I am learning along with the players, and using every resource I have to get better each day.”
