Overtime shootouts can lead to incredibly happy moments – and super painful moments – for high school soccer teams trying desperately to stay alive and advance in the state tournament.
The Fruitport boys soccer team is all too familiar with both feelings.
The Trojans experienced the best of moments in an OT shootout in the district finals last week, outscoring a great Allendale team in the shootout round and escaping with a 3-2 victory and a Division 2 district trophy.
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But the Trojans also know how it feels to be on the opposite end. Last year they lost a shootout thriller in the regional finals against Forest Hills Northern, ending a season that had been unblemished by a loss.
That curse came again for the Trojans in the first round of Division 2 regionals on Tuesday, when they were outscored 3-0 in the shootout round and lost a 2-1 heartbreaker to Cedar Springs on the Red Hawks’ home field.
“It’s just a cruel way to go out,” said Fruitport Coach Dan Hazekamp. “Sometimes you’re on the good end of it, and sometimes it goes against you, and that happened tonight.”
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The Trojans finished 2025 with a 17-4-3 record, which was even more impressive considering they started the season with an 0-3-2 mark. They were 10-0 in O-K Silver conference play, won their second straight conference title, and then won their third straight district championship.
“It’s a great group, a special group, that did a lot of fantastic things,” Hazekamp said about his team. “We are going to miss them, not just because we lost, but because we’re not going to be able to see these guys every day anymore.”
The game was tight from start to finish, with Fruitport posting an 8-5 advantage in shots on goal.
Senior Carter Latsch broke a scoreless tie with a penalty kick goal with about 13 minutes left in the first half, and the Trojans went to halftime with a 1-0 lead.
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Fruitport received a blow late in the first half when senior Ryder Doherty, a starter and key contributor, hit his head hard on the artificial turf playing surface and was not able to return to the game.
Cedar Springs pulled even early in the second half when senior Ian Stearns scored his 33rd goal of the season on a long shot that found the back of the net.
“For the majority of the game we held him pretty well in check,” Hazekamp said. “He only had one shot and it turned out to be the one that went in.”
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Fruitport had its share of chances to pull ahead throughout the rest of the second half, then again in the two overtime periods, but could not find the mark.
“We were just knocking on the door,” Hazekamp said. “They just made a few big saves. It makes you shake your head a little bit. A lot of nights those would have gone in for us, but for some reason it was not meant to be.”
That led to the fateful OT shootout.
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Game-deciding shootouts occur in the state tournament when two teams play to a draw through 40 minutes of regulation and two 10 minute overtime periods. Each team sends out five shooters to go one-on-one with the opposing goalie from close range, with a ton of pressure on the participants.
Three Cedar Springs players found the mark while the Trojans could not get their shots to go in, and that was the difference in the game.
“I’m sure Cedar Springs did their homework, if they were at the game last week and saw how our guys shot (in the shootout win over Allendale),” Hazekamp said. “It was just one of those situations where, their goalie made a couple of good saves, we put one shot just over the bar, and their first goal hit our goalie’s hands, went off the bar and went it. It was just a matter of inches. The margin of error is very tight at that point.”
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The painful loss marked the end of varsity soccer for 15 Fruitport seniors who desperately wanted to play a few more games. They weren’t able to realize their state championship dream, but their accomplishments have been extraordinary.
Over the past two years, Fruitport, led by that senior group, posted a combined 37-5-4 record.
“These seniors are an incredible group of unselfish kids who have really high character and are very tight knit,” Hazekamp said. “They’ve been like that for a long time. They are very talented, but what allowed them to achieve what they achieved has been their really tough blue collar, hard-working, hard-nosed approach. They worked for everything they got.
“They left their mark on our program in so many different ways. Their legacy will never be forgotten.”
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