MANISTEE — Every sports team’s season ends sometime, and for all but the most elite teams, all they want is to go out playing their best.
There’s no question Montague did that Friday night at Manistee, pushing top seed Fremont to its limit and getting the district final to overtime before being eliminated, 2-1.
The Packers scored the game-winner less than four minutes into the first of two overtime periods on a Riley Chase goal. That score came less than 30 seconds after Fremont’s keeper denied Montague’s point-blank shot at the net, the clearest scoring chance either team had had through most of the second half and into overtime.
The hotly contested battle drew a sharp contrast to the 9-4 Fremont win just a couple of weeks prior to Friday’s game and showed how far the Wildcats had come in a short time.
“The coachable ladies that are on this team, I can’t even describe what that’s like, to have a group of girls that are willing to go out there, study some film, go on the field, try new things and execute, and come out and do this,” Montague coach Chris Aebig said. “Sure, we wanted a different result, but I told them after the game how proud of them I was.”
While Fremont controlled the pace of the first half, Montague (12-7-2) proved equal to the task of keeping the Packers out of the goal, as keeper Addison Pranger ran the defensive side of the ball with authority and made a few impressive saves. Fremont got on the board first on a great shot by Mia Clemence just five minutes after kickoff - and shortly after a Montague shot deflected off the post and back into play. However, Montague got it back 21 minutes later off a Braylyn Bultema corner kick when a traffic jam at the net resulted in the ball going in. Zaniya Meza Wilson was credited with the goal.
“It was a heat of the moment kind of thing, because you wouldn’t think that it was going to go in, but it barely just crossed the line over there,” said Montague senior Ella King, who played defensive midfield most of the game. “We were very happy that happened and that we had our wingers crashing at the net.”
Montague came out in the second half looking even more cohesive defensively and never allowed Fremont a clear shot at the goal. Whenever a Packer, especially Clemence, got close to the net, Montague was able to apply defensive pressure and force her to the center. Fremont had to settle for several low-percentage shots from outside the goalie box. (The Packers, for their part, provided similar attacking defense against Wildcat star Ava Pelton and kept her from getting clear .)
“Going into the second half, before we had the kickoff, we definitely talked about who we were going to cover, how we were going to communicate when we got beat to the ball, and stuff like that,” King said. “I feel like that, and just working on our spatial awareness going into the second half, helped a lot.”
King joins Anna Woller as starters who played their final game Friday. Woller credited her teammates with inspiring her to remain on the team for her last season and also appreciated Aebig for pushing a positive atmosphere when he became head coach in the middle of the campaign.
“Coach Aebig brought (that) to us and really encouraged us, and helped us get our love for soccer replenished,” Woller said.
With so many stars set to return for the ‘Cats next spring, the stage will be set for what could be a special season.
“These ladies are awesome and they’ll be back next year,” Aebig said.
