Scoring goals and stopping goals, Petoskey girls have both ends clicking early

HABROR SPRINGS — It’s easy to look at the Petoskey girls’ soccer team and instantly see the 14 goals scored through three games.

A third straight win to begin the season came Thursday in a 4-0 victory over Harbor Springs at Ottawa Stadium in Harbor.

But, what’s also standing out is the second part of those wins. All the zeros in the other column. Through three games, mix and match lineups, home and away, the Northmen still haven’t allowed a goal.

And that’s building momentum and confidence just as much as all those celebrations following the goals scored.

“It feels really good to start out with the first three games all as shutouts, that’s awesome,” Petoskey keeper Sadie Corey said. “We’re actually a very young team, but we’re all friends and connect really well together.”

Corey has of course been a big part of those shutouts in goal, now entering her third straight season as the starter in net as a junior.

She knows she doesn’t have to do it all alone though. From those scoring the goals, to everything in-between her, everything is just clicking to begin the year.

“I’m very confident in out front line,” she said. “They know how to score, know how to shoot and get my kicks when I punt them. The defense, I love them all and play really good defense. Our team is just fire this year.”

While they ended Thursday night in a 4-0 win, they weren’t exactly on fire to begin the night, much of that credit to Harbor Springs, who came out ready on their home field against the much larger Petoskey.

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Petoskey coach Zach Jonker was happy to get the competition.

“I’m probably most happy that Harbor really came out and put us under some pressure, which we haven’t really experienced yet this season,” Jonker said. “They kind of came out on fire and it was good for us to absorb it. That’s going to be a heck of a team in Division 4.”

There were times when Corey and others on Petoskey’s backline had to jump into action throughout the first half Thursday and Jonker was proud of his veteran group.

“Sadie continues to do a good job handling crosses and her height and hands are really useful back there,” he said. “We’ve got two seniors with Quinn Matthews and Sydney Hoffman in the center back role, then Lia Czarnecki is another senior back there. We’re starting three seniors on the backline, which I think is really advantageous for us moving forward. Then Sadie is a three-year returning starter for us back there.”

Petoskey led in a 1-0 game at halftime following a score by Annika Gandhi, then Claire O’Donnell, Haidyn Wegmann and Gandhi again scored in the second half.

For Corey, having those goals to take some pressure off is always big. She also knows the season is still a work in progress just three games in. There’s areas the team needs to keep improving on and areas she also needs to add to the work list.

“Communication is the biggest key,” Corey said. “I don’t tend to talk very much because I’m so focused on the game. Communication all around is pretty key for soccer though.”

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At 1-2-1 on the season, Harbor Springs’ record may not look like much, but they’ve tested themselves against both Gaylord and Petoskey out of the Big North now and battled Lake Michigan foe Elk Rapids to a 2-1 loss.

A strong group of young players – as Jonker pointed out – will return to the field this Friday against Marquette at home, then welcome Grayling on Monday, April 15.

For Petoskey, it’s the start of the Big North Conference up next, as Cadillac travels to Northmen Stadium on Tuesday, April 16.

Getting another goose egg on the scoreboard in that one would go a long way in building that confidence up too.

“Having a shutout in that game would be really big, definitely,” Corey added.

Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey girls soccer improves to 3-0 with win over Harbor Springs