Montague soccer gets rude welcome back from break, falls to Ludington

MONTAGUE — Before the season, Montague ID'd its West Michigan Conference opener against Ludington as a key game - not just because the Orioles are good, but also because they would come in with a week's preparation advantage due to the way spring break fell for both schools.

Mentally, the Wildcats appeared up to the task, but two quick first-half goals by the Orioles stood up the rest of the game, and Montague couldn't find the response it needed in a 2-0 defeat.

"It's tough," Montague coach Chris Aebig said. "When you play this quality of an opponent and they had all week last week, a couple games and a couple practices, for us to come back and play against them with the legs we had, I'll take another game against them in about three weeks. We won't get that, but I would take that because I love playing teams like this."

Of the 11 starters Monday, Aebig said nine of them "were literally on beaches two days ago," having taken trips over break. While the Wildcats (3-3, 0-1 WMC) had good attendance at an optional practice Sunday and played well Monday, that week off did seem to manifest physically when a few players went down with leg cramps late in the game.

Ludington exploited a defensive mismatch with two goals in a 49-second span late in the first half, with the goals coming from Hestyn Stowe and Eloise Kwietnewski. A planned defensive adjustment had to wait until halftime because the Wildcats haven't had time to put it into practice much yet; after sliding Elle Moran to the sweeper position for the second half, Montague fared better on that end.

Moran made one of the more remarkable plays of the game in the second half when she was able to knock a Ludington forward off the ball near the goal without committing a foul, averting a scoring chance. Despite being slight in stature, the junior plays tough, Aebig said.

"Elle, pound for pound, is probably one of the best players on the field," Aebig said. "She has speed. She has grit. She has determination, all of those things. She plays with a lot of heart, and you can't ask any more out of any players than to play with heart like she did tonight."

Ludington had three shots on goal that nearly added to its lead in the second half, but keeper Addison Pranger made a diving save to turn back one of them, and the other two narrowly missed posts. Montague's coaches estimated it was about a 10-8 edge for the Orioles in scoring chances.

"I can't ask more out of these girls," Aebig said. "They played so well today. We had four freshmen that were out there, two of them that were starters and two of them that came in reserve roles for us. The future of Montague soccer is looking really bright and I'm really excited about it, but we owe everything to these seniors, and we need to give it everything we've got to try to be the best versions of ourselves so we can push as far as we can."

The Wildcats, who entered the year with big dreams, should be able to draw extra motivation from the defeat. They have more big tests in the near future, with Hart, Western Michigan Christian and North Muskegon in the next three games.

"We've got a great squad," Aebig said. Their heads are in the right places...Ludington, North Muskegon (or) Fremont right after spring break is always going to be a tough draw. That's the hand we were dealt. I'm proud of their resilience tonight."