The Wayland girls’ v
arsity soccer team snapped a three-game losing streak Thursday evening with a 3-2 win against Covenant Christian.
“Following a well-played but tough conference loss the night before to South Christian, the girls showed their resilience and were able to come out victorious,” commented coach Ben Sleeman.
In the first half, the Lady Wildcats’ attacking play built up a number of strong scoring chances, including two that forced great saves from the Chargers’ keeper. Eventually, senior captain, Brinley Nieuwenhuis slotted a nifty through ball into a streaking Amanda Brown who rounded the keeper and scored her eighth goal of the season to give the Wildcats the lead.
The score at halftime was 1-0 despite both teams having a few good chances to score.
The second half held most of the action, as both teams would find the back of the net twice. It was the Chargers, though, who scored twice in quick succession by following up rebounds by senior goalkeeper Paxton Granger, who was making her first start after knee surgery this summer.
Emily Gray evened the score for the Wildcats after a pass from Kennedy Thelen, who found her wide open and she was able to find the back of the net for her third goal of the season. The Wildcats were able to capitalize on a corner kick with five minutes left in the game for the game-winning goal. Amanda Brown’s restart was met by Ashlyn Schafer for her second goal in as many games.
In goal, Granger made five big saves. Paxton was making her season debut after recently being cleared from off-season knee surgery.
The win improves the Wildcats’ record to 7-6 on the season overall, 5-3 O-K Gold Conference. The girls will resume action Monday evening against Allendale.
