Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
NORTH MUSKEGON — A glance at the West Michigan Conference girls soccer standings suggested that Tuesday night’s North Muskegon vs. Ravenna district semifinal would not be much of a contest.
North Muskegon finished unbeaten in the league at 10-0-0, while Ravenna went 0-8-2. Earlier this month, the Norse took care of the Bulldogs, 6-1, at Ravenna. North Muskegon is a perennial power, ranked No. 2 in Division 4. Ravenna is just trying to earn respectability and grow as a program.
Well, it’s the state tournament, where records and rankings don’t seem to matter much. Ravenna gave host North Muskegon a scare before the Norse prevailed, 3-2, in a hard-fought and emotional match at Fred Jacks Memorial Field.
With the victory, North Muskegon (14-3-1) advances to Thursday’s 7 p.m. district final against rival Western Michigan Christian (7-5-3). The Norse and Warriors settled for a scoreless tie in the season opener March 23. On Tuesday, 11th-ranked Western Michigan Christian defeated No. 10 Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian, 1-0.
North Muskegon’s victory over Ravenna came at a cost. Senior scoring standout Sam Johnson suffered an apparent wrist injury late in the first half. She was carted off the field during the halftime break. During a postgame interview, Norse coach Caleb Parnin said he had not yet received a report on the extent of Johnson’s injury.
Here are more details from Tuesday’s North Muskegon-Ravenna match:
- North Muskegon’s Kennedi Koekkoek opened the game’s scoring with 22:45 remaining in the first half.
- Johnson made it 2-0 Norse with 15:15 left in the first half. The score remained 2-0 at halftime.
- Ravenna made things interesting less than eight minutes into the second half. Brynn Kantola bent a well-placed direct kick into the short-side corner of the goal to pull the Bulldogs within 2-1 with 32:35 left in regulation.
- North Muskegon answered about 16 minutes later to restore a two-goal cushion. Koekkoek was fouled inside the 18-yard box, and Emma Creed made the penalty kick to put the Norse up 3-1 with 16:48 left in regulation.
- Ravenna wasn’t finished just yet. Fran Morey’s free kick from 30-35 yards found the net and the Bulldogs were back within a goal, 3-2, with 10:39 remaining.
- North Muskegon held on for the victory in a game that was much closer than expected.
- Monroe Wilde played well for Ravenna in goal. The freshman keeper finished with 17 saves.
- North Muskegon keeper Emma Lamiman made three stops.
- Ravenna, which loses seniors Marissa Calderon, Carmela Klenk and Brynn Kantola to graduation, finishes its season with a 4-11-3 overall record. Calderon has signed to play soccer at Muskegon Community College.
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