Reeths-Puffer soccer earns another shutout, plays Fruitport to tie

MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer's recent struggles scoring goals haven't made it easy to win games, but the Rocket defense has more than done its share to ensure the team continues to be competitive.

Saturday's contest against defending district champion and Division 2 No. 14-ranked Fruitport was another example of that work paying off, as the Rockets were able to pick up a 0-0 tie.

R-P has only scored one goal in the five games it's played in September to date, but strong defense has enabled the Rockets to win or tie three of those five games. The Rockets are 7-3-3 overall.

"We're still working on some of the technical things around the attacking third for goals, but we're really excited about the work ethic and the athleticism that our boys (have shown)," R-P coach Kody Harrell said. "They've worked all summer for that. That's why we were happy about the athleticism, because it's fun seeing that hard work being put on display.

"That was one of the things we focused on more this offseason, was our athlete piece. We wanted to be able to hang with them athletically. We thought they kind of out-athleted us last year in the district game specifically. We feel faster this year. We feel stronger. We feel deeper."

While Fruitport had more scoring chances than did the Rockets, neither team really came all that close to scoring. Keeper Liam Copenhaver, who's already closing in on the team's single-season record for shutouts (which is 10), did not have to make any spectacular diving saves to prevent a goal Saturday.

What he did do, and has done all season, is seek the ball with confidence. When the Trojans had a corner kick, more often than not Copenhaver was the most aggressive player on the field in getting the ball.

"Coach (Andrew) Anderson's done an amazing job as our goalie coach, instilling, obviously, the training and the technique and the teaching, but also just instilling that confidence," Harrell said of Anderson's work with Copenhaver. "He's a big kid with broad shoulders. Own that, because it's the ref's job to protect the goalie, too. Own your physique and get after it and be that broad-shouldered boy up in the air and go get it. He's a nice, strong, confident kid nowadays and we're loving that from him."

Harrell did not betray much worry about the team's scoring struggles of late. Unfortunately, the team has been without dynamic attacker London Carpenter for most of this month as he is working his way back from an illness. He won't be back on the field until later in September, and Harrell's confident that will help unlock the Rocket offense.

That's not to say he lacks faith in his existing players, however.

"We've got plenty of boys, especially like Owen Ritsema and Cohen (Beck) and Carson (McCollum) and Zac Sampson," Harrell said. "We should still be scoring goals. The expectations haven't changed because of the talent those guys have...Once London gets back, I think that in itself will fix some things, but we've definitely just got to keep plugging away."

While fans wait for the goals to come, the defense has played with great effort, partially a result of the depth with which the team entered the season. The Rockets can liberally substitute, which offers fresher legs at the end of games and also promotes a healthy competition for minutes between the players on the back end of the field.

"Defenders know they're doing their job, but they still know they can't take any plays off or take any games off, because there's boys ready to step into their spots," Harrell said. "I think that still helps our back line play at a high level."

Harrell shouted out Kaden VanderLaan and Trent Plummer, as well as Copenhaver, for their work on defense.

As the final weeks of the regular season play out, the Rockets will be trying different things in order to optimize their chances at a postseason run.

"We just need to continue fine-tuning some things," Harrell said. "We tried a different formation today, too, so we're kind of in that experiment mode while attacking at the same time. We're using the next eight games to get ready for October, really."