HOLLAND — Western Michigan Christian’s boys soccer team has yet another trophy to add to its collection.
The Warriors came out on top in a hard-fought Division 4 regional final Saturday morning, beating Hartford 3-2 at Holland Christian High School.
Western Michigan Christian, now 14-8-1 on the season, will face Leland (19-3-1) in the Division 4 state semifinals Wednesday at 6 p.m. The game will be played at Crestwood Middle School in Kentwood.
WMC faced Leland early in the season, with the Comets winning 1-0 on their home field.
[1]“It feels great,” WMC coach Ben Buursma said. “This is the first regional championship I’ve been involved in.”
Saturday’s winning goal came off the foot of Gavin Riksen. With just under eight minutes to play, Riksen took a backheel pass from Ashton Leffring and shot it past the Hartford keeper into the corner of the net.
“It’s kind of crazy, you don’t even know how to celebrate,” Riksen said of his go-ahead goal. “You just stand there and think ‘I just did that.’
“It’s exciting. This is what we’ve been working for all year. To see how far we’ve come from our first game to now, it’s great.”
[2]Buursma said the WMC defense and goalie Jared Olsen, who made several key saves, were vital in holding a good Hartford team in check, particularly on counterattacks.
“Our defense, I think that was probably the best game they’ve played all year,” Buursma said. “Jared stepped up big today, he’s done that all year.
“We knew we were going to have to be patient to unlock their defense, which could leave us vulnerable to counterattacks. We knew it was going to take a big effort defensively.”
Hartford scored first, just over five minutes into the game, to grab a 1-0 lead. Ashton Leffring netted the equalizer for WMC about five minutes later, evening the score at 1-1.
[3]With 9:38 left in the first half, Leffring scored his second goal on a free kick. Hartford tied the game again with 5:03 left in the half, leaving the score 2-2 at halftime.
Neither team scored for the first 32 minutes of the second half, although both had chances.
Risken found the back of the net with 7:58 to play, putting the Warriors on top for good. Hartford had a couple of corner kicks in the remaining minutes, but couldn’t a shot past Olsen.
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