SCHOOLCRAFT, MI - Kalamazoo Christian took a big step toward maintaining its status as the class of the Southwestern Athletic Conference on Wednesday, when the Comets defeated an upstart Schoolcraft team, 4-2, to hand the Eagles their first league loss.
It took K-Christian less than five minutes to find the back of the net, as Madison Ling scored off a feed from Madison VanBeck, and it looked like it could be another rout for the Comets, who defeated Schoolcraft 9-1 and 11-0 in their two meetings last year, but the Eagles had other ideas.
Schoolcraft junior sensation Anna Thompson scored her 35th goal of the year less than two minutes later to tie the game at 1, but K-Christian junior Taylor Leonard answered by capitalizing on a couple scoring chances to put the Comets up 3-1.
Thompson netted another goal to make it a 3-2 game with 5:57 left in the first half, but less than a minute later the Eagles received an unfavorable whistle on a bang-bang play, in which goalkeeper Hannah Kelecava rushed off the back line to challenge a loose ball in the box and collided with an oncoming K-Christian player.
The officials ruled Kelecava’s arms upended the Comets’ striker, giving K-Christian a penalty kick that Leonard buried to put her team up two goals with just over five minutes left in the opening half.
“I personally saw my goalie coming out trying to be big and make a safe, and it went off her legs,” Schoolcraft coach Scott Thompson said. “He (the referee) said that she took her out with her arms, and I thought she made a good save. And she got railroaded, she was bleeding, so personally I thought it was an unfortunate call, and I’ll just leave it at that.”
A scoreless second half allowed K-Christian to move to 5-3 overall and 3-0 in conference, and the Eagles are in prime position to wrap up their fifth consecutive SAC title with wins over perennial contender Kalamazoo Hackett and a rising Schoolcraft squad out of the way.
“We knew this was going to be a tough one,” K-Christian coach Jay Allen said. “(Hannah Thompson) is a phenomenal player, and we did not control her in the first half. We did a better job of keeping her under control and the second half.
“We’re banged up, and we have some things that we need to work on. Other than that, it was a great game.
“They’re very good team, and they’re only going to get better, so like I told my team, we’ll probably see them in districts, and we’d better be ready.”
PHOTOS: Click here to see a gallery from the game
K-Christian was without seven key players in the contest, including defender Avery Ekkens, who is the Comets’ only returning varsity player from their 2019 state runner-up finish.
“It’s a cliché, but it’s a rebuilding year, and we like what we see,” Allen said. “Losing last year really hurt us, but we’re rebuilding. It’s a slow process, but we will get there, and I hope we peak by districts, because I have a lot of talent, we’re just very young and inexperienced, but we’ll get there.”
While K-Christian would like to reach its fifth consecutive state championship game, Schoolcraft’s girls soccer program is in its sixth season, and Wednesday’s result marked the first time the Eagles stayed within eight goals of the Comet.
If not for the K-Christian penalty kick and another close call on a Schoolcraft shot that Thompson thought crossed the goal line before K-Christian’s keeper batted it away, the game could’ve been closer than the final margin.
“After the game, my message to my team was that I’m really proud of them. They worked hard,” said Thompson, who is in his first full season as the Eagles’ head coach. “Two years ago, we lost to them 9-1 and 11-0, and we only got to play one half.
“I was totally happy with their effort, and 4-2 is a great game. I think we should have had a closer game -- it should have been tied -- but you can’t change that.
“I was very happy with their energy, their effort. It was a long game. It was a great game.”
While it’s hard to take solace in a moral victory immediately after stepping off the field with a loss, Thompson said his players should gain some confidence from hanging with a perennial power like K-Christian.
“I think it’s good for confidence,” he said. “Right now, the girls are upset because they didn’t want to lose, but I think in the long run, it’s probably going to make us stronger, and when districts happen, we can use that to fuel ourselves to kind of grow.”
Schoolcraft falls to 6-2-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play, and the Eagles will take the field next on Monday against Lawton.
K-Christian (5-3, 3-0) continues its season on Monday at home against 6-1-1 Saugatuck.
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