By Ron Rop
Local Sports Journal
For the second straight season, it was the Calvin Christian Squires who finished off the girls soccer season for Western Michigan Christian.
Last year, it was 3-0 in the Division 4 state semifinals. On Friday night, it was 2-0 in the regional finals, which were played at Warrior Field.
Defending state champion Calvin Christian heads into the state semifinals on Wednesday at East Kentwood, where it will face Kalamazoo Christian.
“We just got clocked by a really good team,” WMC coach David Hulings said. “They played the best I’ve seen them play and I’ve watched them a couple of times. They came in here ready to play.
“They, obviously, deserved to win, they were the better team,” said Hulings, whose team finished 16-5-2. “I felt my girls played really good. The last 20 minutes, they didn’t give up, but it was a good game. They are just a dominant team.”
WMC goalkeeper Lindsay Johnson did a solid job in the face of heavy pressure from the Squires, which hit the crossbar several times during the game.
Calvin Christian got on the board with 15:10 left in the opening half when Hilary Curry fired a left-foot shot that eluded plenty of traffic in front of the net and rolled into the far side of the Warrior net.
The Squires also rang two shots off the crossbar in the first half.
An early goal in the second half gave the Squires an insurance goal. Mackenzie Buursma scored just 1:29 into the second half off an assist from Sarah Klunder.
From there, the Squires defense kept the Warriors at bay to the final buzzer.
“We knew that they had a good team, a team with some dynamic attacking players, I mean Alexys Riksen scares you every time she gets the ball,” Calvin Christian coach Tim TerHaar said. “We knew that it wasn’t a game we couldn’t count on having a clean sheet (shutout) and we did end up getting one, thankfully.”
Calvin Christian has posted 19 shutouts this season and allowed just eight goals all season long.
