Petoskey drops finale to TC West, turns focus to Division 2 district
PETOSKEY — Each end of the 2022 season for the Petoskey girls’ soccer team looks drastically different.
The beginning of the year came with a 6-0 start, five shutouts and an average of nearly three goals a game on the offensive end.
The end of the season, which wrapped up Monday night at Northmen Stadium, finished with five straight games without a win and a 0-4-1 record, averaging just a single goal a night.
The good news about that regular season wrapping up in a 2-1 loss against visiting Traverse City West Monday is that a whole new season will start again next week.
“It was a great game to get us ready for districts,” Petoskey coach Zach Jonker said looking on the bright side. “It’s a funny game. We tied them down there, but I actually thought we had a lot more of the ball in this game and they probably hit three posts down there, so I actually thought we gave them a much better game here despite the scoreline.
“It just came down to a couple little plays. They were able to force us into a mistake that led to a goal. They’re a good team, but I’m proud of our girls.”
The win for the Titans handed them an outright Big North Conference title at 7-1-2 within the league, while Cadillac finished second at 6-1-2.
Petoskey wrapped up a 9-6-2 overall season and 3-5-2 record in the BNC, with four of the five league losses coming by just a single goal.
“I know they’re frustrated, but you look over the course of the year and there’s probably four goals total that if we flip in our favor in games, then we run away with the league,” said Jonker. “That’s how slim the margin is.”
The Titans and Northmen played to a 0-0 halftime Monday, but then West quickly found the scoreboard less than three minutes into the second half on a deep goal off a free kick.
Exactly five minutes later, Petoskey’s Kate Farley tied things up by sending in a deflection off a PHS free kick, though it was a tie that again lasted just minutes.
West’s Amelia Blume worked past a pair of Northmen defenders and got on a breakaway to pick up what became the game-winning score with just over 28 minutes left.
Petoskey had chances to respond late, though couldn’t capitalize.
Before the game, Petoskey celebrated eight senior athletes playing in their final game, which included Haley Dixon, Suzanne Carpenter, Dana Cole, Alaina Anderson, Audrey Corey, Hayley Flynn, Emma Flynn and Emma Nicholson.
“We have eight great seniors and they represented themselves really well tonight,” added Jonker.
With a bye to open the postseason, Jonker is happy to have plenty of time now to work on little things with the regular season wrapped.
They’ll await the winner of the Gaylord vs. Bay City John Glenn district game, traveling to the winner on Wednesday, June 1. Gaylord will enter the matchup with the Bobcats heavily favored.
“I’m excited that we now have eight or nine days to really prep and really try out some attacking patterns,” said Jonker. “In the back we look sharpe, our combinations (up top) need to be a little tighter and quicker and we need to be able to unlock defenses better. We’ll work on it, we’ve got time to train and everyone is healthy going into district.”
The top potion of the district also includes Bay City Western meeting Mount Pleasant and the winner of that game hosting Cadillac.
With a lot of familiarity, even against the teams outside of the BNC, the start of the postseason comes as a clean slate to get things going much like the 2022 campaign began for Petoskey.
“We’ve had one goal games or ties with everyone in the district,” added Jonker. “The top half of that group, it’s everyone’s district and they all know it.”
Contact Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey soccer drops finale to TC West, turns focus to Division 2 district
