LocalSportsJournal.com
PETOSKEY — The undefeated run is over for the Ludington boys’ soccer team, which was dealt a 1-0 non-conference loss by Petoskey on Tuesday night in Petoskey.
It was the second game in as many nights for the Orioles, who are finishing a rugged stretch of nine games in 12 days before taking a break until after Labor Day.
“They’re a good team,” said Ludington head coach Kris Anderson. “You don’t make the regional final last year if you’re not a good program.
“It was a fairly even game. Each team had chances. We actually outshot them, 9-6.”
Petoskey’s only goal of the game came with just 2 seconds left in the first half.
Anderson said the Northmen have a player in the attacking zone who can throw the ball in like a corner kick, and in a sequence after such a throw in late in the half, the Orioles had a chance to clear it. But they didn’t clear the zone enough and the ball came back in, found one of the Northmen’s head and he just popped it in just out of keeper Connor Rudzki’s reach.
Ludington got a good opportunity right off the second half kickoff, when the Orioles found Spencer Holmes with the ball inside the 6, but just couldn’t quite get it to where he could get a shot.
“It was just one of those things where the ball just didn’t bounce the way we wanted it to tonight,” Anderson said. “Petoskey played some tough teams real close already, with a couple losses to some big Division 1 schools.
“They’re a good, solid program and so are we. We did some good things against them, and they did some good things against us. We just didn’t quite come out on top,” Anderson said. “But it’s early in the season, and we can build on it. There’s a lot of stuff that we can take from that ball game that we can get better at.”
Ludington is now 6-1-1 overall and has its second West Michigan Conference game on Wednesday at Orchard View.
