Photos by Tate Stine | CatchMark
MONTAGUE — West Michigan Conference girls soccer foes Montague and Manistee met for the second time this season Wednesday night.
This time, a spot in the district championship match was on the line.
Montague made it a clean sweep, as Ava Pelton netted a hat trick in the Wildcats’ 6-0 home victory over the Chippewas in a Division 3 district semifinal match.
Montague (11-5-0) advances to Friday’s 5 p.m. district title match against host Newaygo (17-0-1), which defeated Whitehall 5-0 on Wednesday.
Manistee closes the season with a 10-5-2 overall record.
Here are more details:
- On May 10, Montague traveled to Manistee and beat the host Chippewas, 3-1, in a West Michigan Conference match.
- On Wednesday, the Wildcats were able to repeat that performance and then some. They dominated both ends of the pitch, applying pressure to the Chippewas in both halves and keeping the ball away from their own net.
- Pelton carried the load for Montague with one of her goals being in the final minute of the contest.
- Peyton Johnson put Montague on the board with an unassisted goal. She also notched a pair of assists.
- Wildcats freshman Lilly Rice scored one goal and assisted on another.
- Montague sophomore Braylyn Bultema tallied the other goal.
- Wildcats senior Ana Trevino added an assist.
- Montague has won six of its last seven matches, allowing only five total goals during that stretch.
- Montague and Newaygo have not squared off this season yet. Last season, Montague defeated Newaygo, 1-0, in a nonleague regular-season match.
- Manistee loses three seniors from this year’s team, but coach Kathy Smith is optimistic about the Chippewas’ future. They were 6-11-0 in 2022 and 5-10-0 in 2021, so progress is being made.
