Cheboygan soccer fades in second half, suffers 3-1 loss to Boyne City

CHEBOYGAN – The Cheboygan girls soccer team has had its problems with the Boyne City Ramblers in recent years.

But on this rainy Monday evening showdown of unbeatens, the Chiefs had as good of a chance to take down the Ramblers as they’ve had in some time.

However, the energy and aggressiveness weren’t consistently there from the Chiefs, who faded in the second half and suffered a 3-1 loss to the Ramblers at home.

“We didn’t come ready to play,” said Cheboygan coach Tom Markham. “There’s a big difference between playing to win and playing to not get scored on, and that’s what most of the first half was. We were sagging and trying to play the long ball, and we weren’t very successful. The one or two times we had some successful, well-built attacks, we had a nice goal – a really nice goal – and we had other opportunities, but it doesn’t matter what I believe. It’s about this group of girls believing in themselves.

“We just needed to play all 80 minutes.”

Monday’s defeat marked the first loss of the season for the Chiefs (3-1-1), who battled to a 0-0 tie with the Ramblers in the opening half. The Chiefs created a big chance in the opening 10 minutes, but sophomore Addy Baldwin saw her shot attempt go just wide, keeping the game scoreless. Both teams played even for about the opening 30 minutes, but the Ramblers had a strong finish to end the first half and were only denied by a shot that went off the crossbar with about two minutes before the break.

The Ramblers finally broke through early in the second half when senior Elle Day took a pass, found space and scored to make it 1-0. However, the Chiefs immediately responded when Baldwin made a run down the right wing and delivered a cross into the box that was poked in by sophomore left winger Sammy Harke to make it 1-1 with 34:43 remaining. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, they couldn’t build any momentum from the equalizer, while the Ramblers retook the lead when Day struck again with 26:23 left.

“Elle’s a senior on our team. As a leader and as a person, she’s second to none,” said Boyne City coach Becca Madison. “Phenomenal athlete, she really makes great decisions on the field, and she has that mentality where she’s able to take that initiative, and I think that’s kind of the mentality she carries off the field as well, just putting the team on her back sometimes. I think we saw that a lot today, but just a great teammate, a great player, and I love having her on the team.”

A few minutes later, the Ramblers picked up a pivotal insurance goal when sophomore Braydin Noble scored on a shot from just outside the 18-yard box to make it 3-1. From there, the Ramblers maintained their advantage and stayed unbeaten on the campaign.

After his team's first setback, Markham hopes his Chiefs will be able to recover quickly.

“The kids were out of gas,” Markham said. “The kids were running hard. When all we’re worried about is defense, and not playing out of there and building an attack as a unit, you’re just creating more work for yourself, which, again, that’s what tires kids out, chasing the balls. The times we were able to string some passes together, we were successful. We’ve got to be able to do that the entire game.

“We had opportunities. It wasn’t like we didn’t have opportunities. Hey, I’m proud of these kids. They played tough. I also think that we’re getting better every game, but we’ve got to collectively at the same time – all of us – we’ve got to believe in ourselves and believe in our teammates, and I’ve said before that belief is a big thing. That’s really where we’re at.”

Madison was more than pleased with her team’s attacking play over the final 40 minutes on Monday.

“I think in the second half we were able to make the adjustments that we needed to make in order to find more success in that attacking third,” Madison said. “A lot of that involved looking to play what we were facing, looking to switch the point of attack quickly, so we talked about that at halftime. They were able to go out and execute, and I’m really proud of their ability to make those adjustments and kind of find success.”

Cheboygan returns to Northern Michigan Soccer League action when it hosts Ogemaw Heights in a 5 p.m. clash on Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan soccer fades in second half, suffers 3-1 loss to Boyne City