NORTON SHORES - All the players on the Reeths-Puffer girls soccer team have been very aware of the Mona Shores problem for a very long time.
The Rockets had a very long winless streak against the rival Sailors - dating back at least nine years, according to available records - and every year that passed without a win, the more the pressure built up.
This year’s R-P squad certainly felt it, particularly after losing to Mona Shores 4-2 at home just a few weeks ago.
Considering all of that, R-P head coach Kody Harrell decided to take a more laid-back approach to the game this time. He made sure the Rockets had a fun, lighthearted practice on Wednesday, with little mention about who they were going to play on Thursday.
R-P's Jaslynn Kops (11), who scored both goals. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The strategy worked perfectly.
R-P scored once in the first half and once in the second to take what seemed like a relatively safe lead.
Mona Shores finally got on the scoreboard with just over 10 minutes left, but the Rockets buckled down the rest of the way, kept the Sailors from tying the game, and walked away with a joyous 2-1 win on their rivals' home field.
They finally got that monkey off their backs.
R-P's Ashlyn David tries to get a shot off. Photo/Jeremy Clark
And it was getting to be a big, fat, ugly monkey, indeed. Before Thursday, the Rockets were 0-11-3 going back to the 2018 season. Four of those losses were by one goal. Four more were by 2-0 scores.
“If feels good!” said a beaming Harrell after the big win. “Ironically enough, yesterday was probably the least I've ever talked about Shores in our practice before playing them.
“You're always trying to build it up, build it up, get them to focus on detail, energy and passion, right? And it just hasn't worked for us. So we just we kept it real light yesterday. We kept it fun, and I think that definitely helped them.”
The victory was a great showcase for R-P junior standout Jaslynn Kops, who continued a recent hot streak by scoring both of the Rockets’ goals – one from about 15 yards out with 18:54 left in the first half, and one on a penalty kick with 18:41 left in the game.
R-P goalie Sara Carlson, left, who played well in net. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Kops is already committed to play college soccer at Ferris State University, and her future college coach was apparently at Thursday’s contest. Harrell said she was nervous about that before the game, but it certainly didn’t show in her performance.
She was all over the field, excelling while playing several different positions in the offensive formation and helping R-P put pressure on the Sailor goal. And she got the big goals when the opportunities came along.
Kops now has 20 goals on the season.
“This was one was we wanted really bad,” Kops said. “Especially for the seniors. They've kind of taken me under their wings since I was a freshman, and we just kind of owed it to them to give it to them tonight.
Kops (11) fires a shot past a defender. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“We were confident that we could beat them. We came in with a fresh mindset, especially after practice yesterday, because (Harrell) was really lenient on us, and it kind of just took some weight off our shoulders, and I think it let everyone play a little bit more loose.”
The Rockets also got a great performance from senior goalkeeper Sara Carlson and the defenders, who held Mona Shores to only five shots on goal in the game, and only one in the crucial second half.
Carlson was R-P's starting goalkeeper last year and did a good job, but the position was taken over this season by talented freshman Ava Callender.
Callendar was hurt in the first Mona Shores game, however, so Carlson has been back in goal lately and picked up right where she left off.
R-P's Mackenzie Danz (10) boots the ball past a Sailor. Photo/Jeremy Clark
She made nice saves on all four of the Sailors’ normal shots on goal (the other shot was an indirect kick that resulted in a goal), and also did a great job of jumping on the ball or snagging it out of the air near the R-P net, keeping some scary situations from getting out of hand.
“She takes away lot of those crosses,” Harrell said about Carlson. “She intercepts a lot of those passes coming into the box. She cuts off those angles really well. It's a lot of those plays that don't really go in the category of a save, but she's saving our butts. She's done a really nice job.”
Kops’ first goal came after she took a long pass from a teammate and scored from just inside the goal box.
“(The pass) bounced off of a Shores defender, and then I just settled it and took it with my left foot,” she said. “It was surreal.”
Her second goal came on the penalty kick in the second half, after a Sailor was called for a handball violation inside the box.
The Rockets celebrate as the win becomes official. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“That one scared me a little bit, but I was like, you know, I just have to have confidence in myself and know that everything I'm doing is for the team, and they really deserve it, so I needed to step it up,” Kops said.
Mona Shores’ goal came after a Rocket was given a yellow card for taunting an opponent inside the R-P box. The Sailors were awarded an indirect kick and Kendall Berghuis put it in the net.
That led to a tense final 10 minutes, but the Rockets kept the Sailors from getting another shot on goal the rest of the way.
Harrell teased the players after the game for making a few errors in the final few minutes, but congratulated them for hanging in there and getting the job done.
"There were a lot of those little details, like there are certain places on the field you want to pass the ball when you have a lead that late, and we weren't playing the ball," Harrell said. "We were kind of giving the ball right back to them in some dangerous areas.
"But effort wise, energy wise, togetherness wise, that was district championship level play."