FRUITPORT – The Fruitport girls soccer team may be winless in its last five games after falling 2-0 to Holland Christian on Wednesday night, but Coach Chris Belasco is focusing on the improvement he sees compared to last season.

The Trojans lost 6-1 to Holland Christian in 2022, which Belasco noted after the game on Wednesday.

“We’re competing,” the coach said about his team’s effort. “Holland Christian is a really good team. Last year, I can’t say we competed with them. But we’re starting to show the things were empathizing in practice. It’s the small little things but we’re getting better, which is the biggest thing.”

Perhaps the greatest improvement showed in the final 10 minutes of the game, after Fruitport trailed 2-0.

Fruitport’s Makayla Hudson battles an opponent for the ball. 

The Trojans had multiple balls in the opponent box with good scoring chances, but were simply unable to finish off the plays.

“We’ve been working on finishing in the box quite a bit,” Belasco said.  “We were owning the last half. We just have to be able to find the open shots and defend the open shots. Just a few minor mistakes, but a few minor mistakes against a good team leads to them scoring.”

The Trojans were outshot 8-7 on the night with Fruitport goalkeeper Riley Kettel making six saves.

Just after the midway point of the first half, Holland Christian took a 1-0 lead on an incredible shot from Avery Huisman.

Fruitport’s Lauren Riedel

That 1-0 deficit held until late in the second half when Jenna Hofman gave Holland Christian a 2-0 lead with 13:22 remaining.

The Trojans pressed hard until the end but the Maroons were able to keep the shutout intact.

Fruitport is now 4-6-1 overall and 2-5-0 in O-K Blue conference play.

The Trojans will next host Montague on Friday in a non-conference clash scheduled for 6:45 p.m.