Local Sports Journal
The Muskegon Community College Jayhawk mens soccer team, playing in its fourth match in seven days, overcame an early lull in energy to defeat the only other undefeated team in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) 2-1.
“(We) played a very solid game tonight,” said Jayhawk coach Ben Ritsema. He went on to say that he could tell his team had tired legs by the way “Ancilla control(ed) the game for the first 15 minutes. We were able to weather the storm and make some formation adjustments in the midfield and the game started to tilt our way.
MCC got on the board mid-way through the first half, when Eric Hilt, assisted by Tyler Sparks and Zachary Sutton, goaled to put his team up 1-0.
With 41 seconds remaining in the first half, Ancilla tied it up at 1-1 with an unassisted goal from Nakilee Weni.
“We reacted well to allowing the late goal right before halftime with a solid 10 minutes (to start the second half) to take away any momentum that they might have created with the late goal,” said Ritsema.
The winning goal came off a penalty kick with four minutes remaining, resulting when Marcos Moul was taken down in the penalty area. Sutton buried the subsequent PK to seal the deal.
Ritsema pointed to the play of defenders Brandon Prim and Brandon Gillikin, who played the entire game.
MCC goalkeeper Loghan Stong finished with five saves, while Ancilla’s Rene Meija had six saves in the loss. The Jayhawks outshot Ancilla 8-6. MCC is now 8-1 overall and 5-0 in MCCAA.
The Jayhawks will face off against No. 6 Cincinnati State this Saturday at Mona Shores High School. Match time is set for 1 p.m.
