Wayland defeated Hastings 3-0 Thursday evening in a Division 2 district semifinal girls’ soccer contest to take the team to a place it’s never been before — the district finals.
The Lady Wildcats will take on O-K Gold Conference nemesis Middleville Thornapple Kellogg at 5 p.m. Friday at Hastings for the district championship. They have lost twice to the Trojans earlier this season.
Wayland opened up the scoring in the semis with a goal from Hannah Henney as she found herself with a loose ball at her feet following a corner kick and rocketed her volley past the Hastings keeper. Coach Ben Sleeman said then, in the 24th minute, Amanda Brown found herself at the top of the box after a nice pass from Emily Gray and she put a left-footed shot past the keeper to double the Wildcats’ lead. The score would stay that way into the second half, despite a few more good chances to widen the gap.
In the second half, the Wildcats continued to pressure the Hastings defense but couldn’t find their final goal of the game until the 16th minute of the half when Jackie Richardson headed home a cross from Amanda Brown to add to their lead.
Keeper Rachel Wienclaw, also stepped up in the second half, making a couple nice saves and ending the night with five saves and a complete game shutout.
The win brings the Wildcat’s overall season record to 14-6 and gives them a chance to bring home the program’s first-ever district championship on Friday. Kickoff is 5 p.m. at Hastings High School.
