Lakers win soccer district

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TC Liberty goalie Leah Beemer comes out of the net to deny Glen Lake's Ty Fessell in the Division 4 district title game on Saturday. Record-Eagle/Dennis Chase

June 6, 2010

Glen Lake beats TC Liberty 2-1 in shootout

BY DENNIS CHASE dchase@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Sun Jun 06, 2010, 07:30 AM EDT

MAPLE CITY — Jordan Lewis was too tired to feel the pressure.

With the game on the line in a shootout Saturday, Lewis netted the winning goal to give Glen Lake its first girls district soccer title with a 2-1 win over TC Liberty.

"I just shot it. I didn't think too much about it," Lewis said. "I was just so dead from the two halves and the two overtimes. My brain was fried by then (shootout).

"But," she added, "someone had to finish it."

Lewis, Glen Lake's sixth kicker in the shootout, was that someone. Both teams scored on their third attempt — Kylie Argyle for the Liberty and Grace Hubbell for Glen Lake. It stayed that way until Lewis connected.

Lewis said the significance of the goal hit her "hard" afterwards.

"I'm still shaking," she said. "It's crazy. And it's awesome to be a senior and to win it — finally."

Glen Lake lost to the Liberty 1-0 in the district final a year ago.

"The girls played hard," Lakers coach Meg Murphy said. "It was our goal to win districts. It's our year."

A milestone year at that.

"This is pretty big (first district title)," Murphy said. "I'm definitely going to celebrate and I'm sure the girls are as well."

Glen Lake, 17-1-2, will now play Hart in a Division 4 regional Tuesday at the Coast Guard field in Traverse City.

The Liberty finished 11-3-6.

"That's (shootout) one of the worst ways to finish a game," Liberty coach Chris Batchelder said. "You had two teams that played phenomenal. It went back and forth. It could have gone either way. Congratulations to Glen Lake. They played phenomenal. They did what was necessary to win.

"It's just unfortunate one team had to lose."

Glen Lake scored the game's first goal just past the midway mark of the first half. Ty Fessell netted the goal off an assist from Kayla Siwicki.

The Liberty responded five minutes later when Addey Meachum scored off an assist from Devin Forlenza.

Both teams had near-misses after that.

Liberty's Mary Raetz hit the crossbar with 27:30 left in the second half.

Glen Lake's Logan Popp hit the crossbar — at almost the exact location — with just under nine minutes remaining in the first overtime.

Glen Lake goalie Sophie Ewing then came up big to stop Liberty captain Jessi Heger on a point blank shot in the second overtime.

"I thought that was the game," Batchelder said. "That was a beautiful shot. Their goalie was in the right place at the right time."

It was one of five saves Ewing made on the day.

"She stepped up," Murphy said. "She kept her composure. She's an unbelievable keeper."

Liberty goalie Leah Beemer was equally impressive as Glen Lake put 20 shots on goal.

"The game could have gone either way, really," Lewis said. "I'm just so glad we came out with the win considering we lost to them in the finals (last year)."