MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – The Fruitport boys soccer team rediscovered its sense of dominance on Tuesday night in a 5-0 Division 2 district semifinal victory over Whitehall at Reeths-Puffer High School.
Junior forward Sam Gieske led the way with a three-goal hat trick.
With the victory, the Trojans advance to take on archrival Spring Lake in the district finals on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The Trojans started the season with a 12-0-3 record, before a 3-1 loss to Spring Lake in the O-K Blue conference tournament put a halt to their unbeaten streak. Then they lost again, to Holland Christian, and suddenly were in the first slump of their season.
[1]But the Trojans more than bounced back on Tuesday, and say they are ready for the finals.
“We knew that we’d be prepared for the end of the year,” said Fruitport Coach Dan Hazekamp about his players earning the opportunity to battle Spring Lake again. “Our schedule is so tough, and to start fast tonight was important. I really thought we built off that.”
“It feels great,” said Gieske about his team getting back to winning. “I felt like we kind of got cheated in both games, especially the Holland Christian game. We showed what we can do tonight, and we’re going to beat Spring Lake.”
The scoring started early when senior forward Ryan Laus sent an airborne pass to Bode Anspach, who headed it in just 4:23 into the game, giving Fruitport a 1-0 lead.
The Trojans extended their lead in the 13th minute when Jackson Rebone’s corner kick found Laus, who put it in the net with a header.
[2]Gieske closed out the first half by scoring two goals, with assists from Rebone on both, to give Fruitport a 4-0 halftime lead.
Gieske completed his hat trick when he scored again with 20:30 remaining to give the Trojans their final advantage.
“It feels good, especially, to open our district tournament that way,” he said about his big night.
The Trojans outshot the Vikings 17-4. Goalkeeper Justin Laus picked up the shutout for Fruitport.
Whitehall finished the season with an 8-9-1 record, which was remarkable considering the Vikings had only one victory in their first nine games.
[3]“The team decided to become better this season, and they did it,” said Vikings Coach Bryan Mahan. “That’s great.”
Fruitport, now 13-2-3 on the season, hopes to grab its first district title since 2008. The Trojans split two games with Spring Lake this year, winning the first matchup 4-2.
“It’s going to be electric,” Hazekamp said about the anticipated atmosphere on Thursday. “There will be a lot of people. It’s the rubber match, if you want to call it that. It’s going to be a battle and a war. We’ll be ready to go.”
“It will be really competitive, and it will be high intensity.” Gieske added. “It might be even a little scary, but I just know we’re going to win. That’s it.”
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