NORTH MUSKEGON – It was bound to be a great matchup on Friday night, with two undefeated teams, both fresh off state championship game appearances in 2021, meeting in a local showdown for bragging rights.

North Muskegon won the Division 4 state title last year while Spring Lake advanced to the Division 2 state finals.

But this time it was Spring Lake that came away with a big victory, outshooting the Norse 15-5 and claiming a 2-0 victory on North Muskegon’s home field.

“Speed is (key), you can’t beat it and you can’t coach it,” said Spring Lake coach Becky May. “It’s a gift, and we happen to have some fast girls. They were very disruptive on defense, and we kind of just wore them down.”

It took some time for the Lakers to gain the lead, but freshman Lauren Nioles finally found the mark with 7:28 left in the first half, giving Spring Lake a 1-0 lead.

“The first couple minutes it was difficult to adjust,” Nicles said. “Once we got the flow we definitely did a lot better. (The offense) set the tone for the rest of the game.”

The Lakers continued to outpace the Norsemen in the second half, remaining on attack for the majority of the time. While shots on goal for the two teams were comparable in the first half, Spring Lake had an eight-shot advantage after halftime.

Clara Saunders scored Spring Lake’s second goal with 23:20 left in the game, speeding through the Norse defense and knocking a shot past goalie Emma Lamiman.

“This gives us a lot of confidence, because it helps us realize that we can be just as good as last year,” Saunders said about her team’s mindset going forward. “We lost a lot of key players, all the seniors last year, but we have very high expectations this year.”

Despite the loss, North Muskegon’s Lamiman put up a solid performance in goal, recording an impressive 13 saves on the night.

On the other side of things, Spring Lake goalie Jessica Stewart got the shutout, making five saves of her own.

Spring Lake improved to 4-0 on their season, while North Muskegon fell to 4-1.

“I think we’re trying to go back to state,” Saunders said. “It’s obviously the goal, and we’re just going to go out and do our best every game and try to get there.”