The Wayland girls’ soccer team
ended the week on the losing end of another close game, 2-1, on the road against a tough nonleague opponent at Hamilton.
The Wildcats opened up the scoring with a goal on a corner kick by Madelyn Gray. After Brinley Nieuwenhuis played the ball into the box, Hanna Moulenbelt kept the ball alive and knocked it to the back post where Gray was waiting and calmly knocked the ball into the back of the net.
The Hawkeyes evened the score just before halftime on a ball over the top of the Wildcat defense. Goal keeper, Hannah Anderson, was able to get a piece of the ball but it fell just underneath the crossbar.
Coach Ben Sleeman said the Wildcats dominated much of the possession and scoring chances in the second half, but were unable to slip one past the home team’s keeper to take the lead. Late in the game, another long ball over the top beat the Wildcat defense once again and the game winning goal was put neatly past Anderson for the game winner.
Anderson finished with six saves for the contest.
The Wildcats, now 10-6-1 overall, play their biggest game of the season at 6:45 p.m. against Thornapple Kellogg at home. The Trojans are undefeated in the conference and with a win, the Wildcats’ hopes for a conference championship would remain alive.