Western Michigan Christian earns berth in Division 4 state soccer semifinals with shutout victory

By Ron Rop
LocalSportsJournal.com

HOLLAND – Most nights, Daniel Minasian quietly goes about his business as the goalkeeper for the Western Michigan Christian Warriors’ soccer team.

The junior now has 14 shutouts in the Warriors’ net after leading his team to a 3-0 victory over Grandville Calvin Christian in the Division 4 regional final game at Holland High School.

Top-ranked WM Christian is heading for the state semifinals to take a familiar opponent in Leland, which defeated Harbor Springs 1-0 in their regional final on Thursday night.

The record will show that Minasian had five saves in the Warrior net. But, he also got his name on the scoresheet with an assist in a second half in which the Warriors scored a pair of insurance goals.

WMC got on the board nine minutes into the game on a rather fluky play that began when the ball was bouncing in the box in front of the Squires’ net. In an attempt to clear the zone, a Squire defender kicked the ball straight up and toward his team’s net. Goalkeeper Isaak Francisco was forced to backpedal toward the goal line and jump up to keep the ball from falling into the net. Francisco got his hands on the ball, but the rebound dropped to an awaiting Tekalegn Vlasma, who finished the play with a goal.

The Warriors pressured the Squire goal several other times, but could not add on any more goals prior to halftime. WMC had the wind at its back in the first half. And scoring just one goal with the wind was a bit of a concern for Buursma.

“Obviously, you want to make sure that you get them in a much bigger hole when you have an advantage with the wind like that,” Buursma said. “We couldn’t get it done in the first half, but the guys pulled together really well in the second half and got another one relatively early in the second half to make it a little more comfortable.”

Six minutes into the second half, Minasian charged out of the Warrior net and blasted a ball down the length of the field. Senior Ben Pollock beat Francisco to the ball and scored to make it 2-0.

“I did my job and played it up,” Minasian said. “I could lie and say it was intentional, but it definitely wasn’t. I was just trying to clear it out like I’m supposed to do and got the assist.”

“That was a heads-up play by Pollock and a good read that it was going to come over his head,” Buursma said. “He just turned and got to it before their keeper. That was a really great play.”

Later in the half, Vlasma had a shot that nicked the crossbar and junior Ryan Riksen sent a low shot that just missed the far post.

The Warriors were rewarded with 7:34 to go when Vlasma converted on an odd-man rush on the Squire goal.

And chalk up another shutout for Minasian, who was tested several times.

“Dan was amazing in goal,” Buursma said. “He single-handedly kept the clean sheet late in the game. That was very important and I’m very happy for him because he’s been working hard all season. He’s done a tremendous job.”

“Overall, I think we played pretty well,” Minasian said. “With 3-0, you can’t really argue with that. I think our defense did a good job and we did a pretty good job of possessing the ball.”

Buursma was pleased with his team’s effort against the best team they’ve seen in the five tournament games.

“We had to play well because that was a good, quality opponent,” Buursma said. “When they put it together, they played the entire game really well.”

Western Michigan Christian (19-2-3) will take on No. 8-ranked Leland (18-4-1) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at East Kentwood High School.

Take a look at video of WMC’s three goals shot by Brady Proctor and photos shot by Randy Riksen.

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