Photo courtesy of MSHS varsity soccer by Michelle Grunert

GAYLORD---Mother Nature was not kind for the Marquette High School soccer team, and Lady Luck wasn't either, as the boys faced the Fruitport Trojans in an MHSAA Division Two regional semifinal game in Gaylord late Tuesday night. Marquette lost the game, 2-0.

The game was scoreless for the first half, and for much of the second half. Then, early in the second half, lightning was spotted, and the game was delayed. After about 90 minutes, the game finally resumed, and things didn't go well for the Upper Peninsula boys.

With just under ten minutes left in the game, Fruitport sophomore Jorge Burgos-Yack broke the ice with the first goal of the contest. And around two minutes later, Trojans senior Ryder Merkins scored an insurance goal, with Burgos-Yack drawing the assist.

The Trojans kept the Redmen at bay the rest of the game, and Fruitport put together another shutout behind goaltender Logan Werschem. Fruitport outshot Marquette, 9-4.

Fruitport has not allowed a single goal in any of its last 13 matches.

 

"Our game plan was working and we felt good right up until the lightning delay. We were playing a fast paced, heavy press attack which was starting to give us offensive chances," Marquette Coach Dan Salmon said. "Once the game restarted, we just couldn't get back to where we were."

Salmon says his team's season was "historic", being allowed to compete in the statewide MHSAA tournaments for the first time in more than 15 years.

He suggested that his team simply ran out of steam after playing a ton of soccer recently, and then, sitting through a long delay.

"This was another one of those games that was unprecedented," Salmon said. "Start to finish was almost four hours, after our nearly three-hour game in the district championship on Saturday."

Another Upper Peninsula soccer team, the Kingsford Flivvers, ahd an even longer day, as they had to wait to play after Marquette's game ended. The Flivvers had a 2-0 lead over the Fremont Packers, 2-0, but couldn't hang on, losing 3-2 in a game that ended just after 11:00 ET Tuesday night.

Fruitport improved to 18-2-4 on the season, and the Trojans will face Grand Rapids Christian in the regional championship game on Thursday. As for Marquette, the boys finished this season with a 14-6 record, and its first district championship in many years,