The Reeths-Puffer boys soccer team has not performed as well as it hoped to this season.
But the Rockets still have a talented team, the season is far from over, and there are some big goals that can still be achieved.
R-P Coach Kody Harrell was very aware of that on Tuesday night following his team’s 2-1 loss to rival Mona Shores in an O-K Green conference thriller on the Rockets’ home field.
Mona Shores has been having a great season. The Sailors came into the contest in first place in the conference with a perfect league mark and only one loss all year.
R-P's Owen Ritsema (13) and Mona Shores' Easton Lopez try to control the ball. Photo/Joe Lane
The Sailors took a 1-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game, then the Rockets came alive, controlling the ball for most of the first half and tying the game 1-1 at halftime.
Mona Shores scored the game-winning goal midway through the second half, but Harrell liked the fight his team put up, particularly after falling behind early.
“We’re not here for moral victories, but that’s a very good team with a very good coach, and I was very proud of our effort, especially after they scored in the first two minutes,” Harrell said.
“You definitely got the sense that they thought, OK, we got our goal, and they might have assumed we weren’t going to score, and our boys played aggressive. We were the team that had nothing to lose.”
The Sailors looked like they might take control early when Dan VanderPloeg scored on a long shot less than two minutes into the game.
The Rockets celebrate after Liam Smith scored a goal. Photo/Joe Lane
But that early goal proved to be a wake-up call for Reeths-Puffer, and the Rockets went on the offensive for the rest of the first half.
R-P controlled the ball for most of the half, kept the play largely in the Sailors’ zone and had a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal.
Rocket standout Liam Smith finally cashed in with 9:42 left in the half when he was tripped entering the Mona Shores goal box, earned a penalty kick and easily placed it past Mona Shores goalie Gavin Stoker, making the score 1-1.
The Sailors started coming back to life just before halftime, and nearly took the lead when a shot hit the post of the R-P goal with three minutes left, and another hit the crossbar with one minute remaining.
The Rockets dodged those bullets and the score remained deadlocked at halftime.
R-P's James Fansler (4) kicks the ball in front of a Mona Shores player. Photo/Joe Lane
The second half was a wide-open affair, with both teams having good scoring chances. The Sailors had a 4-3 edge in second half shots.
Mona Shores’ Connor Forman scored the winning goal when he kicked in the rebound of a blocked shot with 22:53 left in the contest.
The Sailors had two more great chances to score when the Rocket net was wide open, but R-P defender James Fansler stood in for the goalie and made two great saves, including one on a header, to keep the score close.
Mona Shores also had a shot hit the crossbar of the R-P goal again late in the game.
For the Rockets, the near miss confirmed the fact that they can play with great teams and have a chance to make some noise over the last few weeks of the season.
Owen Ritsema tries to get past a Mona Shores defender. Photo/Joe Lane
The O-K Green conference tournament, which the Rockets stunned everyone by winning last year, is two weeks away, followed by Division 2 districts.
The Rockets entered the season with 16 returning players from last year’s team and expected to be a strong contender for the conference title in the regular season.
In hindsight, Harrell believes he may have put too much pressure on his players by focusing too much on that goal.
“I’ve kind of learned my lesson,” the coach said. “I may have forced that (idea of a conference title) too much. But we’re Reeths-Puffer, and we still have all sorts of things we can achieve.”