LocalSportsJournal.com
Beating a team three times in a single season is rarely an easy task for a team to do, especially when tournament time arrives.
Grand Haven was reminded of that when it faced Holland West Ottawa in the semifinals of the Division 1 district tournament on Monday at Hudsonville High School.
The Bucs topped West Ottawa 1-0 in a tight contest that was their third matchup with the OK-Red rival Panthers.
William Keskine scored Grand Haven’s lone goal, barely four minutes into the contest. The tally came off the Bucs’ early push to make a quick impression. Keskine found the back of the net off a perfectly placed one-timer into the corner of the goal that came off a corner kick by Payton Wright.
The goal was the result of early intensity by Grand Haven on the Panthers’ net. The Bucs started the contest with a high-energy assault that earned them their first shot less than a minute into the game.
After three-straight corner kicks—their fourth corner opportunity early in the game, Keskine was able to capitalize.
“It’s surreal, I’ve never had a game winner,” said Keskine, a senior for Grand Haven. “We’ve been practicing those corners, and I’m always back post, it was a beautiful ball by Payton.”
The Bucs pushed West Ottawa to its limit early on with high pressure while controlling the ball at midfield.
“Start hard, keep going, keep pressing and bring it out in the first five minutes,” said Keskin about what his coach Nick Tejchma asked from the Bucs squad.
Grand Haven was able to control much of the first half, outshooting West Ottawa 7-2. The second half saw the Bucs having to manage a much more aggressive Panther squad.
“We talked about we can’t let down, we gotta keep the tone when we start the second half.” said Grand Haven Coach Tejchma.” Keep that pressure on and we knew they were going to come and change their formation and be more aggressive but we’ve been working on that defensively too. I think we were well prepared for this and the boys really stepped up.”
The Bucs definitely saw the increased pressure from West Ottawa. After getting an early shot on goal in the second half, Grand Haven had to come up with big stops defensively. Goalie Logan Shenefield made a key diving save midway through the second half on a shot that had all the looks of finding the back of the net through traffic.
The defense continued to rally against West Ottawa’s offense as the Panthers managed to find several more good opportunities that included an open net after a big save by Shenefield with just minutes remaining in the contest. The Bucs’ defenders were able to stay between the ball and the goal and cleared it out.
Grand Haven outshot West Ottawa, 13-7, as Shenefield posted the shutout in goal with seven saves.
The win advances Grand Haven to Wednesday’s district final against Jenison. The Wildcats topped #1-seeded Hudsonville 2-1 after the game went to a penalty-kick shootout.