WHITEHALL — Whitehall picked a rough time to face Division 3 #12-ranked Traverse City St. Francis. With the Vikings having lost leading scorer Mason Mulnix to a season-ending injury earlier this month and a virus working its way through the team, on top of playing a sixth game in an 11-day stretch, there was a lot working against them.
Whitehall couldn't do much to overcome those obstacles, losing a 7-1 decision to the Gladiators, who controlled possession pretty much throughout and showed some impressive skill along the way.
St. Francis' Liam Donnell scored twice on headers delivered off of corner kicks, and Sam McMann had a nifty goal where he evaded a trio of Viking defenders, then flipped the ball off his right foot while running to his left.
Whitehall coach Adam Prince was disappointed in the mentality of the team, blaming himself for not getting the Vikings more up to face the highly-ranked foe.
"(I) was just trying to find somebody that had a little
bit of spark or wanted to be out there," Prince said. "That's on me,
trying to get the guys prepared and ready. After three games this
week. I didn't do a good enough job of it."
Whitehall (4-7) hung in with St. Francis for the first 20 minutes despite all it was facing, surrendering only one goal in that span and manufacturing a couple of scoring chances. However, once the Gladiators put in a second goal - Donnell's first of two - the air seemed to come out of the Vikes' collective balloon. St. Francis led 3-0 at halftime and had another goal waved off for an offsides call.
The visitors poured in three more goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half to essentially ice the game.
The game was the latest to feature Garrett Taylor at keeper, with previous keeper Andon Palmer in an offensive role. Prince said the move was made because the Vikings needed more offense after Mulnix' injury and Palmer has the skill to provide it.
"We figured out that Andon gives us
a little bit more speed and hustle up on the top, and without Mason
being here anymore, we need him (there) more than we do Garrett playing defense
in the back," Prince said. "It also gives us another one of our captains that's out
in the middle of the field, being able to talk to people, instead of sitting in the goal waiting for the ball."
St. Francis appeared poised to win the game by mercy rule when it put in a seventh goal with 19:45 to play, but with some reserves in the game, Whitehall began to perform better and even got on the board with a Carer Burrous goal, ensuring the contest would go all 80 minutes.
"When the new guys came off the bench, they busted their butts while they're out there," Prince said.
Whitehall now hopes to bounce back. The schedule continues to be grueling, as the Vikings face three-game weeks each of the next two weeks as well.
"Hopefully we can get over
this virus that's been floating around," Prince said. "It started with the
coaches and went all the way down through the whole team. If we can get
through that and get everybody healthy again, maybe this can be a big learning
experience for us. I can only hope that going forward that they took their woes today and (can) push it to the other side."
