SPARTA - The Reeths-Puffer boys soccer team waited just a little too long to get its offense going on Monday.
The Rockets trailed for most of the game, got a tying goal late in regulation and sent the game to overtime, but ended up losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Ludington in a Division 2 district semifinal game at Sparta High School.
The game went all the way to an overtime shootout, which lasted a full 10 rounds, before the outcome was decided.
R-P's Paco Garcia-Baquero. Photo/John Willoughby
Reeths-Puffer ended the season with an 8-8-4 record.
The game was a rematch of last year’s intense district semifinal, which went to overtime with no score before Reeths-Puffer found the net twice to end the Orioles’ season.
This year the battle was just as hard-fought and intense, but the tide turned against the Rockets in the end.
“I have to tip my hat to Ludington – they made fewer mistakes than we did,” said R-P head coach Kody Harrell. “This was the first time in my 10 years of coaching that I have lost to Ludington, but I guess all good things come to an end.
R-P's Matthew Hansen (8). Photo/John Willoughby
“We just beat these guys in overtime last year in the semifinals, so they don’t just want to win a district title, they really wanted to beat us.”
Harrell was not overly emotional after the tough loss. He felt bad for the Rocket seniors, who ended their careers without a district trophy, but he also knows that this season was kind of a warm-up for next year, when 21 players from the current roster, including 11 juniors, are expected to be back.
With good varsity experience under their belts, and coming off a very respectable .500 season, the Rockets will have high aspirations next fall.
“This year was about gaining experience and doing everything we could do for the seniors,” Harrell said. “A lot of our younger guys were the reasons we did so well in some of our bigger games. Naturally the expectations are going to go back up again next year.”
R-P's Landon Nash. Photo/John Willoughby
There wasn’t much scoring at all before the decisive overtime shootout, but the game might have had a different outcome if the Rockets had created more offensive opportunities in the first half.
They were outshot 5-1 before halftime and trailed 1-0 at the break.
The only goal of the first half came when Ludington’s Ayden Eaton scored on a header from a corner kick.
“We did a good job in the first 10 minutes, then I made a couple of substitutions, and for whatever reason guys stopped pressing and Ludington got their rhythm and started dominating the first half,” Harrell said.
R-P goalie Evan McCollum, in yellow. Photo/John Willoughby
The Rockets finally started generating some chances toward the end of regulation, and managed to tie the score with 12:42 remaining when Paco Garcia-Baquero, an exchange student, scored from about 20 yards out.
“That was exciting,” Harrell said. “”Paco had not scored many goals this year. He started on JV the first five games over so, he worked hard at it, adjusted to our system, and became as much a part of our program as any kid who has been here since day one. It was really cool to see him get that goal."
The game went to two 10-minute overtime periods, but neither team was able to score, leading to the overtime shootout, when players from each team take tuns going one-on-one against the opposing goalie.
There are supposed to be five shooters from each team, but the issue remained undecided until the tenth round, when Ludington scored, Reeths-Puffer did not, and the Orioles advanced to the district finals.
