MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Risers have a victory in the league standings for the first time in three years, and they hope to add another one before playing their home opener in early January.

Last Saturday the Risers men’s team traveled to Ohio to play the Cincinnati Swerve in the opener of their 2021-22 Major Indoor Soccer League 2 season. The Risers have been members of the league for several years, but only played partial non-league schedules over the past two years due to COVID and other factors.

They had an early 2-0 lead, fell behind 4-2 at halftime and trailed 6-3 in the third quarter, before exploding for six goals down the stretch to steal an exciting 9-7 victory.

First-year Riser Ryan Zietlow, who was a soccer standout at Spring Lake High School and Davenport University, was the top star of the game, registering three goals and an assist. James Dutcher, Miguel Flores, Michael Schmitt, Adam Knight, Aldony Mendez and Caue Oliveria were the other goal scorers for Muskegon.

Muskegon tied the game on back-to-back goals from Zietlow early in the fourth quarter –just 27 seconds apart – and Zietlow scored the game-winner with just under seven minutes to go.

Risers Coach Ben Ritsema, who coached the team through an abbreviated three-game schedule last year, said the victory felt great.

“What’s it been, three years since we had a league win?” he said. “I was pretty pumped after the game, and so were the boys. It was a pretty excited locker room. It made the seven-hour drive back a little less painful.”

Ritsema said the Risers made the biggest adjustment during a time out in the second half, when they decided to start pressing a bit on defense to disrupt the Cincinnati offense.

“We changed our philosophy a little bit,” he said. “We started pushing it up a little bit with more pressure and tried to cause some turnovers, and in a four-to-six minute span we got three goals and we were right back in it. The boys executed really great.

“We also shifted our lines better than they did the entire game. I think that gave us more energy in the fourth quarter and we outworked them and outscored them 4-1.”

The coach said Zietlow is a talented player who will add even more punch to a Risers offense that already featured several big scorers.

“We are really excited to have him,” Ritsema said. “Obviously he had a great debut. We’ve been wanting to get him on the team for a while, but he just graduated from college and wasn’t able to play arena soccer the last couple of years.

“A lot of our players know him and recruited him pretty hard.”

The Risers will shoot for another win on Saturday when they travel to face the Chicago Mustangs, a team they have played numerous times in recent years in non-league matchups.

The Mustangs will be playing their season opener against the Risers. That might be an advantage for Muskegon, because the Risers have a game under their belts – but they have never beaten the Mustangs, which is a mental roadblock they will have to overcome.

“They were one of the teams that did play in the league last year, and they made it to the playoffs,” said Ritsema, whose team will open at home on Jan. 7 against Cleveland. “They won the league four years ago, when it was first getting started.

“They are probably one of the most experienced teams in the league. They have experienced players and coaches and their players are very skilled. They also have a great home atmosphere. Their fans make a lot of noise and it’s a tough place to play.

“It’s going to be a challenge, but I think the guys have a lot of confidence from our win, and we hope to build on that and get our first ever win against Chicago.”