Local Sports Journal

The No. 1 Spring Lake Lakers didn’t let a 1-1 halftime standoff get them down on Tuesday night.

Instead, they came out flying in the second half, scored six goals and cruised into the Division 2 regional final game with a 7-1 victory over Grand Rapids Christian. The game, played at Forest Hills Northern, was delayed 35 minutes due to lightning.

“We dominated the chances and hit the goal post a few times,” Spring Lake coach Jeremy Thelen said.

In the opening half, Austin Gabris scored 7 minutes into the game, but GR Christian scored 7 minutes later to tie the game.

“At the half, we said  ‘we just have to keep it going and things will fall for us,'” Thelen said.

The second-half onslaught began 5 minutes into the half on a goal by Riley Kammeraad. Later, it was Nick Elingboe, whose header goal off a corner kick made it 3-1.

Spring Lake (21-0-1) went up 4-1 when Gabris scored his second of the night. After a bouncing ball was pushed out from the goal, Gabris stepped up and fired a shot from 18 yards out that found the back of the net.

In the game’s final 15 minutes, the Lakers struck four more times on goals by Caleb Winter on a backdoor header, Ben Keller and Adam Clauss on a free kick with 2 minutes left.

Spring Lake had a 12-3 advantage in shots on goal.

“We hit the post, their goalie made some saves on us and we missed on a few,” Thelen said.