WHITEHALL — With both Whitehall and Shelby being down one of their top offensive weapons due to out-of-town trips, Monday’s West Michigan Conference opener took on the tenor of a defensive battle - not much different than the team’s tie a year ago.
This time, though, the visiting Tigers were able to make one more big play, as Annabelle Stark chased down an excellent through-ball from teammate Kylee Hanson and put away a goal in the first half. The score proved to be the difference in a 1-0 Tigers’ victory.
“It’s a sigh of relief when you can get on the board early and just break that ice,” Shelby coach Joe Gorton said. “Last year, it was one of our biggest struggles was consistently finding offense, so being able to score early in these first couple of games is an encouraging sign.
“Annie made a great run and a great finish, but it was the play to Annie (from Hanson) that really set that in motion.”
The Tigers were missing senior Kylie Brown, who was out of town, as was Whitehall senior Kate Beda. For Shelby, that necessitated a tweaked lineup that put a few girls out of their normal position. Gorton said the adjusted lineup “lost some speed” compared to the usual one, but helped the Tigers keep the offense looking as close as possible to the one they wanted to field.
“Our mids are doing a really good job of keeping their eyes up and taking advantage of that speed, because we do have some speed on the top end that we’re looking to exploit when we can,” Gorton said.
Shelby controlled the action for the bulk of the first half, despite only getting the one goal. The second half was much more evenly played, but the Tiger defense was very strong and did not force keeper Brylee Friedman into many stressful saves. Whitehall’s best scoring opportunity was on a free kick just outside the box, which caromed off the crossbar and out of harm’s way.
Gorton credited his defensive lineup, including Sydney Reed, Ava Lamberg, Ariana Garza, and Adelyn Kelley for standing tall amid the Vikings’ late pushes.
“My defense played absolutely phenomenal,” Gorton said. “We’ve stressed communication and positioning with those back defenders, and they really did a good job. I didn’t really feel too antsy. I really felt like they were in solid position. They covered each other while my wings played back and helped when they needed to, so really, on the back end, we were in midseason form there.”
With both teams having less speed on the field than usual, the plan was to attack from the middle and go to the outside, a strategy the Tigers ran well through much of the game. There was likely some rust - Whitehall was on spring break last week, and while the Tigers were not, they did not have a scheduled game - but the energy was there.
Part of that energy, Gorton said, may have been the result of some “intramural rivalries,” as several players on each side play club soccer together in the offseason so are quite familiar with one another.
“There are a couple of our girls who were pretty keyed up tonight, and were, I think, more nervous than normal because they wanted to make some things happen,” Gorton said. “It’s good to have those experiences and get that first win in the conference under our belts.”
Especially with Whitehall being a larger school, and one the Tigers had to settle for the tie with a year ago, scoring the early WMC win should be a confidence boost as the league schedule continues.
“It’s huge,” Gorton said. “Knowing that we can step up and play against these bigger schools is always a good motivator. We can always go home and talk about that.”
