HUDSONVILLE – Going into the Division 3 district finals, the Holland Christian girls soccer team was a heavy underdog against a No. 1 Hudsonville Unity Christian team that had already beaten them twice this season (6-0, 7-1).
While this game was more competitive, the outcome remained the same, as the Maroons’ season ended with a 4-0 loss to the Crusaders.
“Unity (Christian) is a great opponent, one of the better high school teams I’ve seen in the time of coaching, so we knew it was going to be a battle,” Holland Christian coach Elliot Slenk said. “We would’ve had to play a near perfect game to give ourselves a chance.”
In preparation for the matchup, the Maroons’ shifted to a five-back formation, giving the defense more help in an attempt to slow down the Unity Christian offense. For much of the first half, their scheme rattled the Crusaders until they got their first goal off a corner kick.
With close to ten minutes remaining in the first half, Holland Christian was down just 1-0 and kept themselves in the game with lockdown defense and missed opportunities by Unity Christian. However, another goal off a corner kick right before the half deflated the momentum that Holland Christian was clinging to.
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“We had to pick and choose our chances, when to go forward and when to go back and we held strong until a couple of corner kick goals from them in the first half,” Slenk said. “To their credit they just kept pushing and they’re a hard team to hold off.”
The second half remained competitive, as the Holland Christian defense continued to stifle the Unity Christian offense, not yielding many shots on goal. The final two goals came in the final 20 minutes of regulation, and when the final buzzer rang, Holland Christian’s season came to an end with a 4-0 loss.
Despite the defense playing well throughout the game, the offense struggled to get shots on goal and very rarely had the ball deep in Unity Christian territory. Junior Tianna Stygstra is proud of the effort the team put forward.
“We lost 6-0 and 7-1 and we changed to a back five (formation) and that really helped,” Stygstra said. “We had the mentality going into the game that we were going to fight and we were not going to back down and that played out in the result tonight.”
The result of the game was disappointing for the Holland Christian team, but the impact the seniors had on the program has Slenk and his squad in a good position for success next season and beyond.
“I enjoyed coaching this group of seniors,” Slenk said. “Their commitment to the program and what they gave, I’m really going to miss them. We have a great core returning, but I appreciate all of the work that the seniors have done in their time here.”
The Maroons will be losing a lot of senior talent and leadership going into next season, but are still primed to make a potential return to the district finals.
“Most of us play club (soccer) and we have a lot of young talent coming up,” Stygstra said. “I’m excited for what next year will bring us.”
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland Christian sees vast improvement, but falls to No. 1 Unity Christian