The very young Reeths-Puffer girls soccer team, with 11 players just beginning their varsity careers, has shown the ability to pull itself together after falling behind early in two games so far this season.
Now the Rockets want to start avoiding those early deficits and win a few games.
Reeths-Puffer went on the road to play Byron Center on Monday and returned with a 5-0 loss.
But the loss didn’t seem quite so bad, considering Byron Center took a 3-0 lead just eight minutes into the game.
The home team did not score any more goals until midway through the second half.
The Rockets played the same way last week in their season opener against state power East Grand Rapids, falling behind 3-0 at halftime and losing 4-0.
“Once again the girls showed some great grit and just amazing effort and determination,” said R-P Coach Kody Harrell. “I know a lot of teams that would have been mercied by a team of this quality if they had gone down three goals in the first eight minutes.
“We just had some silly mistakes that cost us early in the game, but to fight back the way we did, I’m proud to coach this group of girls, and I know everyone at R-P would have been proud with the way they played on the road tonight.
“We’ve done a lot of learning in these first two games, and I know we have the skill and the smarts on this roster to really grow off that.”
The Rockets were outshot 14-6. Byron Center had an 8-3 edge in corner kicks.
Sara Carlson started in goal and had six saves for Reeths-Puffer. She was relieved by Brenna Ackerman, who made two saves.