Chalk up another victory for Ludington’s soccer team in Badger Cup

 

LUDINGTON — The Ludington boys soccer team claimed its fourth straight victory in the annual Badger Cup on Thursday at Oriole Field and felt like celebrating.

 

So the team, hesitantly at first, ran to the victory bell at one end of the field and started it ringing after forging a hard-fought 2-0 win over visiting Mantiowac-Lincoln in the final game of the day.

 

In earlier action, the Manistee Mariners snapped a three-game losing streak by handing the Ship Builders, or Ships for short, a 3-1 defeat.

 

Manistee had played Wednesday night, suffering a 7-0 loss to North Muskegon, and then boarded the bus for Ludington around 7 a.m. Thursday.

 

The Orioles rebounded from a tie against Orchard View on Wednesday, which was disappointing because Coach Kris Anderson felt they had controlled the game.

 

After the two teams battled to a 0-0 draw in the first half, Ludington goalkeeper Gabe Gamez flashing some outstanding skills in denying several Ships chances — including a pair of shots he had to stretch out horizontally to reject — the Orioles went almost another 20 minutes before finally putting in their first goal.

 

“Gabe has been playing really well for us,” said Anderson. “We’ve been doing well in front of him in limiting the number of shots he faces, but he comes up big for us when we need him to come up big.

 

“We’re still dealing with some little injuries here and there, but this was a good solid game for us. We’re consistently doing things well defensively, limiting the number of opportunities for the opposing team.

 

“But, we’ve got to get more dangerous on the front end. We knew that was going to be our issue coming in, what wirh the losses from the scoring last year. It’s a work in progress.”

 

Keen Patterson came back into the game after a brief rest period and was in the right spot to return a rebound with a blast that streaked past the keeper with 28:11 left in the game.

 

Near the end of the contest, sophomore forward Steele Stowe gathered in a pass from Kyle Stidham for the second and final goal of the match.

 

“Even though we’re struggling to get our goal scoring going, we’re finding a way to win games, and be competitive in games,” Anderson said.

“The one loss we had was a 2-0 loss against a team ranked in the top 10, so it’s an encouraging sign where we can get to. Everybody’s got to work together to make it happen.”

 

Manistee took a 2-1 lead at the half, with Max Scharp scoring both of the goals on assists from Mason Robinson. Juan Brandao added the other Mariners’ goal in the second half, unassisted, while freshman keeper Layne Piper made 10 saves.

 

“We gave a little bit here and there, but we took quite a bit away,” Manistee coach Brandon Prince said. “That’s the stuff we want to see, forcing them to take shots from some uncomfortable areas and competing against their shots.

 

“Layne did a great job today, just really protected the ball and made saves when he had to. I think he had a good, complete game back there.”

 

The Orioles (5-1-3) travels to Montague for their first foray in the West Michigan Conference on Wednesday night.

 

Manistee is now 1-3-0 and will make its conference debut Wednesday at Fremont.