By Greg Gielczyk
LocalSportsJournal.com
MANISTEE – Patience was a key for the Ludington Orioles in Wednesday night’s West Michigan Conference game against Manistee on the Mariners’ pitch.
Waiting for their chances, rather than taking any unnecessary risks in a game that evolved into a tournament-like battle between a pair of heavyweights, the Orioles escaped with a difficult 2-1 victory.
Ludington dealt the Mariners their only loss in the conference last year and the Orioles knew that this was one game that they had circled on their schedule.
The Mariners wanted it badly and that was evident from the opening kickoff as they stood toe-to-toe with the Orioles and would not give an inch.
Photo/Greg Gielczyk
“It’s what they measure themselves against,” Ludington coach Kris Anderson said. “Hey, they played us tough. They made it very difficult for us in the beginning. But, I’ve been talking to my boys about 80 minutes. Mistake free, solid focus all game long and today we played an 80-minute solid game.
“It was one where we couldn’t make any mistakes, and we couldn’t give up anything. We were patient when we needed to be patient, rather than force things.”
That wasn’t easy to do in the first half when chances were minimal, and the temptation to throw caution to the wind in an effort to score was very real.
Manistee made several threats throughout the first half, but none got past Ludington goalie Gabe Gamez and the two teams went into the half with a scoreless deadlock.
Gamez left the game about 20 minutes into the game when he took a head to the knee. Caleb Shelton stepped in to finish it and he made four saves on five shots.
Parker Wendt scored both of the Orioles’ goals, the first unassisted and the other from Ryan Kandalec for a 2-0 lead that turned out to be just enough of a cushion.
“To me it’s everything this rivalry should stand for,” Manistee coach Brandon Prince said. “I think both teams are class acts. They way they treated each other, the way they played, the way they competed against each other. I think ultimately that’s what the rivalry is about. On nights like tonight, when you see both teams in the position that they are, and the talent levels they are it’s just good, competitive rivalry soccer.”
Photo/Greg Gielczyk
Manistee received a devastating blow when forward Jacob Scharp, the team’s leading scorer, suffered an ankle injury just as the first half ended. He did not play the second half.
“With Jacob going down, we knew at halftime that we were going to have to make some adjustments offensively to do things to help create,” Prince said. “And we did. We were getting up front, drew a couple of fouls, got some chances, got some shots (but) the goalie made some good saves.
“You saw at the end there, just in those last 15 minutes that opportunity knocked (and) we just couldn’t answer the door.”
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Orioles, and improved their record to 9-4-0 overall and 4-1-0 in the conference. Ludington hosts Oakridge next Wednesday.
Manistee had won three in a row coming into the game, and fell to 6-1-2 overall, 2-1-2 in the conference with its next game scheduled for next Monday at Montague.
