GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Grand Rapids Christian girls soccer team had been snake-bitten all spring, losing seven games by a one-goal margin during the regular season.
Despite suffering through a plethora of unlucky bounces, the Eagles never lost faith in themselves and have caught lightning in a bottle this postseason. The underdog squad continued its magical run Thursday night at Forest Hills Northern High School with a 1-0 win over defending Division 2 state champion Spring Lake to clinch the program’s first regional championship since 2014.
Sophomore standout Charley Hassenrik netted the game’s only goal 19 seconds into the game to give Grand Rapids Christian an early advantage. The Eagles hung on tightly for the remainder of the contest, as the Lakers routinely ripped shots on net but failed to convert an equalizing goal.
With 10 seconds remaining in the contest, Spring Lake attempted a free kick from 40 yards out. The ensuing scramble for the ball gave the Lakers one last look at the net, but Grand Rapids Christian freshman keeper Rogue Tholen corralled the attempt and her teammates began celebrating the regional championship.
“When I saw there was only 10 seconds left, I just tried my best to lock in and make a stop because I knew there wasn’t going to be much time for anything else if I made the initial save,” Tholen said after the game. “After I grabbed the initial shot attempt, I just held on until the clock hit zero and my teammates started celebrating.
“I was kind of nervous just because game after game, it’s come down to those last 10 minutes. It’s just hard on our defense to hold a lead like that, but I know my teammates have my back out there.”
Grand Rapids Christian (11-9-2) advances to face top-ranked Hudsonville Unity Christian (20-0-2) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Division 2 state semifinals at Holland Christian High School.
“This wasn’t our first rodeo this tournament in holding onto a one-goal lead late against really quality opponents,” said Grand Rapids Christian head coach Tim TerHaar after the game. “In our district wins over Forest Hills Northern and Forest Hills Central, we were clinging to one-goal leads and did the same thing today.
“Our freshman goalkeeper, Rogue Tholen, has absolutely risen to the occasion. We had seven one-goal losses during the regular season but this group never lost faith. I have to give these girls credit for just believing and sticking together and knowing that we were close to breaking through and getting the results.
“The resiliency and the grit in these ladies are something else. It’s not always pretty, but we’ve set ourselves up to stay in a lot of matches and give ourselves a chance to win.”
After finishing the regular season with losses to Forest Hills Central and Forest Hills Northern and a 1-1 tie with Forest Hills Eastern, the Eagles exacted some revenge in the district tournament with wins over all three teams to secure an impressive district championship.
“That first tournament game against Forest Hills Eastern was massive for us,” added TerHaar. “We had the mindset that if we could get a result there, it would almost feel like a cherry on top of our season. It was hard to imagine at the time that we could make it out of our district with three state-ranked teams in our bracket but we just kept battling.
“We had felt throughout the season that we were a little unlucky in all of those one-goal losses we went through. The luck has kind of turned around a little bit this postseason for us. The maturity of this team and the growth that they’ve had throughout the season is just unbelievable. To think we’re in the state semifinals now after everything we’ve been through is almost hard to believe. These girls never gave up and now they are being rewarded for it.”
MORE: Images from Thursday’s Division 2 regional championship game
The loss for Spring Lake was a difficult ending to an otherwise successful rebuild for the Lakers, who had to replace nine of 11 starters from last year’s Division 2 state title team.
“We were backfilled with a lot of freshmen and sophomores this season and as a result, we kind of looked like a JV team playing a bunch of varsity teams early on,” said Spring Lake head coach Becky May. “We sorted some things out as the season went along and everyone kind of grew into their roles.
“To make it to the Elite Eight with four freshmen and six sophomores playing valuable minutes for us is a pretty impressive feat. That’s not bad against a team that’s as physical and as competitive as that. They really showed up and played well considering how young they are.”
May believes her team outperformed the Eagles in every category during Thursday’s match except for one – the scoreboard.
“I’m proud of my team’s effort and I’m proud that we dominated that game,” she said. “I felt like we outplayed them in every facet of the game. We outpossessed them. We outshot them. We played most of the second half on their end of the field. We won that game in every single aspect except for the final score, which is the only one that really counts.”
Spring Lake will lose eight seniors from this year’s squad, including the invaluable leadership of players such as Lauren Nicles and Naomi Force.
“I don’t think I’ve subbed for Lauren in the four years she’s been a varsity player, so she’s got more mileage than any player I’ve ever coached,” said May of Nicles. “She’s just irreplaceable and that’s going to be a huge loss for us. She’s not only a great defensive player but she’s able to move the ball in the middle and final third as well.
“Her work ethic and the example she showed for the younger kids was incredible to watch this year. For her to go from winning a state championship last year to playing with pretty much an entirely new bunch of kids wasn’t an easy assignment for her but she did a great job of adjusting and teaching too.
“Naomi Force is another player who doesn’t come off the field for us. She plays every position, so she just added a lot of versatility to our team. She’s everywhere on the field doing whatever needs to be done. Sometimes you don’t notice that she’s out there but that’s because she’s just efficient. She does all the little things that help a team be successful, so losing her is going to be another big loss for us.”
Senior Nia Theune was also a valuable playmaker for the Lakers this postseason, as she netted the game-winning goal on Tuesday in her team’s 1-0 win over Mount Pleasant in the Division 2 regional semifinals.
“She’s another senior who is a really special kid,” added May of Theune. “She’s just got a quiet presence to her but she’s always a presence on the field. She’s a very talented athlete and she just plays with such class. She’s another player for us who sets a great example for the younger girls. We probably don’t win our last two games without Nia on the field. She’s made a huge impact this season and she ended the year playing some of the best soccer of her career.”
The Lakers will bring back plenty of talent next spring, including sophomores Aveya Patino and Baylee Andree and freshmen Kloe George and Kaleigh Clark.
“I’m hurting today but I won’t be hurting the next two years,” added May. “The girls we’ve got coming back are going to be motivated after how this season ended and I know they are going to work hard to get back here.”
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