NORTON SHORES – The Mona Shores girls soccer team faced a lot of pressure coming into the O-K Green conference semifinal game on Thursday.

Not only were the Sailors working to defend their conference title from a year ago, but they had to get past their rival Reeths-Puffer.

The Sailors kept their cool on the field, however, scoring two quick goals in the first half and keeping the Rockets off the scoreboard.

In the end they hung on for a 2-0 victory and a berth in Monday’s conference tournament championship game against Zeeland East.

The Sailors tied Zeeland West for the regular season title, so the tournament title would give them the outright crown.

“This is a big rivalry,” said Mona Shores coach Dylan Darga said about Reeths-Puffer. “We have a ton of respect for them and what they do. This was a big game, and our girls did a really good job of responding today.”

The Sailors turned on the offensive heat early in the first half, and sophomore Shay Norden found the back of the net about 7 ½ minutes into the game, giving Mona Shores a 1-0 lead.

Just a few minutes later, senior Lydia Sowles launched a volley past the Reeths-Puffer goalkeeper, giving the Sailors a 2-0 lead with 29:26 left in the first half.

“I was nervous coming into the game,” said Sowles. “I knew they were ready to come in harder than they did last game, but expecting it to be this hard got us the win.”

The game slowed down considerably after the second goal, with the Sailors tallying a single shot on goal for the rest of the first half. Darga credited the Reeths-Puffer defense with the change of pace.

“A lot of the credit goes to Reeths-Puffer,” Darga said. “They cleaned a lot of things up in the back. The two-goal lead was good and it would have been nice to get another one, but it didn’t happen. They really tightened things up.”

The Rockets spent their fair share of time pressuring the Mona Shores net, but the Reeths-Puffer girls could not get anything going through the first half and most of the second.

The Sailors kept their net on lockdown, holding off any Reeths-Puffer shots on goal until the last 15 minutes of the game, when the Rockets switched up their formation.

“It was one of those situations where we were down by two, so we had to try to generate some chances,” said Reeths-Puffer coach Kody Harrell. “A little formation change created more pressure on [Mona Shores]. They felt the pressure, but we just weren’t able to capitalize on it.”

The Rockets managed to get two shots on net, but could not get past Mona Shores goalkeeper Ella Buikema.

Darga was pleased with the overall Sailor defense.

“As a collective unit, we do a really good job playing team defense,” said Darga. “Our girls really understand what their roles are in each spot, and they know where the ball needs to go and not go.”

Mona Shores has a lot on its plate in the coming week, starting with the tournament championship game against Zeeland East, which upset Zeeland West in the other semifinal game.

“That Zeeland East team is really tough,” said Darga. “We beat them 2-0 on the road, but it was one of those games where I told their coach I didn’t want to see them again. They’re a dangerous team.”

Looming beyond the conference final is the Division 1 district tournament, where the Sailors will face Forest Hills Northern in the first round.

“That is a do or die game,” Darga said. “We have a very short time to clean things up and get things going, but these girls have embraced just about every obstacle we’re thrown at them. They’ll be ready.”