HART – Emotions swung from the lowest lows, to the highest highs and back to the lows again for Hart’s girls soccer team in a 5-3 loss to Manistee in the district semifinals Tuesday, May 27.
For the first 40 minutes of play, it sure seemed as though the Mariners had a firm grip on the Pirates. The Mariners scored two goals in the first half, firmly shutting down Hart’s scoring opportunities in front of the net.
Disbelief washed over the Pirates as they headed into the halftime break trailing on their home field. Just a week prior, Hart had ran away with a pre-district win over Chippewa Hills, scoring eight goals and shutting out the Warriors in the process.
Now, a very real possibility of falling to Manistee – a team they’ve gone 2-5-1 with since 2018 – was staring the Pirates and Head Coach Joe Gilbert directly in the face.
Any fear of losing the game quickly dissipated from the Hart sidelines over the course of the second half’s opening 10 minutes. The Pirates quickly found their offense, scoring back-to-back goals to even things up.
Both of those goals were scored by Hart senior Addison Kokx, one on a corner kick from Devyn Adams and the other on an assist by Addison Barefoot.
Knotted up at 2-2, Hart quickly found an advantage off the leg of Natalie Rosema. Rosema dribbled up field and found an avenue to slip the ball past Manistee’s keeper to put the Pirates on top 3-2.
What unfolded next was unpredictable.
With around 20 minutes of play remaining, Manistee took advantage of several lapses in judgement by Hart’s usually sound defense. The first came when a Mariner striker broke free down the center of the field with just Kailey Edenburn left between her and Hart keeper Baleigh Klotz. Edenburn was able to get even with the Manistee striker, but miscommunication between Edenburn and Klotz allowed the Mariners to regain control and put the score at 3-3.
Manistee wasn’t finished yet. The Mariners regained the lead inside of 15 minutes when a corner kick left a scrum of players in front of the net. Manistee was able to push their way around enough to tap the ball past Klotz for a 4-3 lead, before adding one final goal to regain a two-score lead.
Hart couldn’t find more than a few shots on goal in the final 10 minutes, spelling a crushing end to a promising season.
The Pirates finished the year at 12-6-3 with a 6-3-1 record in the West Michigan Conference. Hart will graduate a hefty class of seniors that includes Devyn Adams, Brianna Arjona, Kokx, Breslyn Porter, Faith VanderVlucht and Edenburn.
