Gaylord girls soccer erases two-goal deficit, draws with Petoskey
GAYLORD ― Each time a team takes the field, you learn a little bit more about them, or about the sport they're playing.
Those watching the Gaylord girls soccer team this season have learned about resilience in the beautiful game.
The Bleu Devils showed their resilience in their Big North Conference opener against Alpena, waiting until the final seconds before a turnaround, hail mary goal gave the Blue Devils a stunning victory, and have since continued to show their willingness to use every minute of the clock.
Their most recent matchup with their rivals from Petoskey on Thursday, April 27 was as good an example as any as Gaylord erased a two-goal deficit with under ten minutes to play to fight for an eventual 3-3 tie on the road.
Petoskey scored the first goal of the game early and controlled the pace in the beginning, something head coach Chris Adams credited to a lack of defensive understanding, which was fixed in part by a move to an underclassman on the bench.
"We had some issues with our defensive understanding in the first 20 mins against Petoskey, which allowed them the control early on," said Adams. "I turned to a freshman center back Emma Horsell-Sehl on the bench, gave her instructions and told her what we needed to change as a team. She went on and executed the change we needed and told the team what they needed to do. Her leadership in that moment hugely affected the game and allowed us to settle into the game and begin to compete and play the way we like to."
The 1-0 score held until halftime, Gaylord was able to sneak in an equalizer shortly after the start of the second half thanks to a heads-up pass from Clarie Gorno, setting up Alivia Zaremba with a one-on-one opportunity with the Northmen goalkeeper that she cashed in.
Petoskey responded with two goals, however, seemingly enough to put the game away with 12 minutes left to play, but Gaylord stayed in the game.
"Our resilience comes from our leaders and we have leaders all over the field, regardless of age group," Adams said.
That resilience showed up again with just six minutes left to play as Mariah Tuner brought the Blue Devils within a goal of tying the game, cleaning up a scramble near the net to bring the score to 3-2. Then minutes later, Gorno, the leader of the Blue Devils attack and an All-State honorable mention a year ago, finished off a corner to even the score at 3-3 and earn their second-consecutive draw against a conference opponent.
"We speak a lot about consistency of thought and execution," said Adams. "You cannot switch off in soccer, the game is continuous and doesn’t allow you to stop thinking. Every day these girls are working hard and we continue to grow."
Gorno led the box score with a goal and an assist, while Sydney Deer finished with two assists to go along with the goals from Zaremba and Turner.
Gaylord is now 3-5-2 on the season and 1-02 in the BNC, still unbeaten headed into a week with home games against Cadillac (Tuesday, May 2) and Traverse City Central (Thursday, May 4).
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord girls soccer erases two-goal deficit, draws with Petoskey
