Wheelock, Burt goals help Cheboygan battle back, earn 2-2 tie with Gladwin

CHEBOYGAN – When the Cheboygan Chiefs and Gladwin Flying G’s collided in their season opener in early April, they battled to a 0-0 tie on a cold day in Gladwin.

A few weeks later, on a much nicer day, the two girls soccer programs faced off in what was a thrilling rematch in Cheboygan.

But, just like the first contest, it finished in a deadlock.

Sparked by second-half goals from freshman Jaelyn Wheelock and senior Kenzie Burt, the Chiefs fought back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to earn a 2-2 tie against the Flying G's on Friday.

“We were knocking on the door hard, there’s no doubt about it, and we had two quality goals in the second half, and we did that with (Gladwin) packing the box on us,” said Cheboygan coach Tom Markham. “If we just do that from the very first whistle, and just come in with the switch flicked on from the moment in, and so we learned a valuable lesson today, that we’ve got to come with the switch flicked on from the very beginning, focused and ready to go.”

After a lackluster first half in which they conceded twice, the Chiefs (3-1-2, 3-0-2 Northern Michigan Soccer League) upped their intensity and sliced the Gladwin lead in half when Wheelock took a ball in the box, made a turn and converted a clinical shot past Gladwin goalkeeper Lela Gee with 26:57 left to play. One minute later, Burt netted the equalizer when she hammered home a shot from about 35 yards out that went over the top of Gee and into the back of the net, tying the contest at 2-2. With under 10 minutes remaining, the Chiefs created one last great chance, but Wheelock’s shot just flew over the crossbar.

“We talked about getting wide and recognizing opportunities,” Markham said. “We switched the ball really well, we played through the wings really well, and the one goal to Jaelyn (Wheelock), it was on to her feet, she had a great turn, she’s one-on-one, picks a spot, easy goal. Kenzie (Burt), how many times have we seen that one-time shot from 35 yards out? She buried it. In four years, I’m thinking of how much we’ve seen that, and it’s so fun to see, but we played with some passion in the second half and cleaned it up quite a bit.

“We’ve got to play all 80 minutes.”

While the second half was strong from the Chiefs, the first was a struggle against the Flying G’s (4-1-2, 4-1-2), who pounced on a pair of Cheboygan mistakes to build their lead.

“Both goals were mishandling the ball,” Markham said. “The wild thing is that we work on that, playing a nice, easy pass, playing through our goalkeeper, playing through our backs, building a quality attack from the back, which is fine, but if it’s not there, then don’t take it. Both goals came from a mishandling of the ball, just being careless, and we’ve got to stop doing that."

Putting the Flying G’s up 1-0 was senior Anna Seebeck, who jumped on a Cheboygan miscue and smashed a shot past goalkeeper Callie Wanke just under seven minutes into the contest. About 20 minutes later, Seebeck struck again by taking a poor Cheboygan pass and firing into the top left corner of the net for a 2-0 advantage.

“She’s (Seebeck) an incredible goal scorer, she’s an incredibly hard worker,” said Gladwin coach Madison Minardi. “This is her senior year and she’s been working hard for the Gladwin varsity team for all four years of her career. She works hard on and off the field, and her goal scoring is a testament to that.”

It was also a tale of two halves for Gladwin, which was terrific in the first 40 minutes but struggled over the last 40.

“I would say that we came out really strong in the first half, being aggressive, and I think in the second half we just kind of lost a little bit of intensity,” Minardi said. “We were down numbers and didn’t have a lot of people on the bench, so I think we just had to give it our all in the second half, we tried as hard as we could and had to play a more defensive half in the second half.

“I think we would’ve all hoped for a different ending, but I’m happy with the work that they put in.”

Cheboygan finishes off a five-game homestand when it hosts Ogemaw Heights at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Wheelock, Burt goals help Cheboygan battle back, earn 2-2 tie with Gladwin