SPRING LAKE – Fruitport girls soccer coach Chris Belasco threw out the term “gut check” while addressing his players after Monday night’s game.

He was obviously referring to how the Trojans will respond following their painful 8-0 loss to rival Spring Lake in a key O-K Blue conference matchup.

Those who don’t know better might glance at that score and assume that Spring Lake is great, Fruitport is bad and that’s the way it is – but it’s not that simple.

Fruitport entered the contest with a promising 4-2 record while Spring Lake came in at 3-0-2.

But the Lakers came out flying, the Trojans were flat, and the game was over well before it was supposed to be over.

Spring Lake’s Phoebe Ryan scored her team’s eighth and final goal with 15:38 left in the second half, ending the game by mercy rule.

“I think maybe the fact that it’s a rivalry game, there’s a lot of familiarity with kids on both teams, we were trying some new things tactically,” Belasco said when asked how the game got away. “We have to learn how to get through adversity. We have to learn how to keep building even when mistakes happen, and I think we’re still learning that. We’re still learning how to be a winning team.

‘Spring lake has been a successful team for a long time. You can see it in the confidence of the players and the program. I would love for us to get that point. It just takes some time to build up to that level.”

The Trojans will have little time to dwell on the painful loss, because they will face a very good Grand Rapids West Catholic team on Wednesday in another challenging conference game.

The entire O-K Blue conference is very tough, and Belasco says his players will have to deal with that going forward.

“There are really no off days for us,” said the coach, whose team is now 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference. “Trying new things and figuring out how to be successful is not going to be an easy task, because every team is big and fast. West Catholic on Wednesday is not going to be any easier than Spring Lake.”

The first half was played almost completely within the Fruitport zone, with Spring Lake applying constant offensive pressure and blitzing the Trojans with 10 shots on goal.

Four of those shots found the mark, with Spring Lake’s Clara Howe, Ada Halvorsen, Ella Andree and Kyle Shelton scoring for the Lakers before halftime.

Spring Lake kept up the scoring parade right away in the second half, getting goals from Halvorsen, Shelton and Andree in the first five minutes to make the score 7-0.

The Trojans started mounting more offense as the second half wore on and managed two shots on goal, but Ryan was able to end the contest with her goal from close range with 15:38 left.