Local Sports Journal

Goals by Taylor Walker, Natalie Yeck and Olivia Nelson lifted the Reeths-Puffer Rockets to a 3-2 nonleague soccer victory over visiting Western Michigan Christian.

WMC took a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the game on a goal freshman Jessica Kunnican.

The Rockets tied it with 10 minutes remaining in the opening half on a penalty kick by Walker. Yeck scored minutes later on an assist from Becca Schaub and took that 2-1 lead into halftime.

“The game kind of went in spurts,” Reeths-Puffer coach Jeremy Tjapkes said. “We had a lot of attack, but we couldn’t finish in the attacking third.”

Three minutes into the second half, Nelson scored with assistance from Yeck.

The Warriors (1-1) pulled to within a goal when Alli Langeland bent a corner kick into the net with less than 10 minutes remaining.

“After playing (Tuesday) night, this was a tough game for us,” WMC coach David Hulings said. “But, our girls showed some great character tonight.

“We were able to not only play back-to-back games, we put a lot of pressure on Puffer at the end of the game,” Hulings said. “Scoring with less than 10 minutes left was a great team effort. Puffer played a good game and kept enough pressure on us that we couldn’t get the other goal, but we were proud of the girls’ effort.”

WMC had an 8-7 advantage in shots on goal. Warrior goalkeeper Lindsey Johnson made four saves while Rocket keeper Gabby Klemp posted the victory with six saves.

Reeths-Puffer is 2-0.