Houghton's Robin Kisiel, 6, and Iron Mountain's Gigi St. Paul compete for position on the soccer field during a game at Houghton High School on Wednesday. (Eddie O'Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)
HOUGHTON — Wednesday was a historic day for Houghton High School sports. This was the first varsity girls soccer game played at home in the school's long history.
Yes, the Houghton turf has hosted many high school level football games, but none of them were approved by the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA). These were always club-level matches, either men's or women's, against other club teams from the Upper Peninsula.
That all changed late last summer when the MHSAA approved Upper Peninsula high school soccer programs to participate in the statewide soccer tournament at the end of the season. That means varsity soccer is official at Houghton and other participating UP schools.
With that in mind, the Gremlin women's team signed on the dotted line and sealed the deal with a 2-0 win over the visiting Iron Mountain Mountaineers (0-4). It was the Gremlins' first win of the season (1-3), and according to coach Maddison Mattila, it wasn't an easy win.
“The girls have been working hard and it paid off today.” she said. “We played our game on the field today, which hasn't always been the case in the first three games.”
From the beginning of this game, the Gremlins had the upper hand in possession time, ball control, and shooting. They outscored the Mountaineers 16-5 for him and took the same number of shots in each 40-minute half.
All of Horton's scores came within the first three minutes of the second half. However, according to Mattila, a lot of good things happened at the start of the first and second games.
“We were playing as a team.” she stated. “We did well with good ball movement and drop options. At the half I told the girls to keep it up and I think the goals will come.”
The Gremlins' first goal came around the 68th minute when forward and captain Robin Kisiel hit a pass to fellow captain CeCe Butler, who looped the pass past Iron Mountain goaltender Emily Copley.
Fast forward 3 minutes and Kisiel is back to normal. This time she had her chance to break through and she got into the box, faked to her left and slotted the ball into her top right corner, all net for a 2-0 lead.
It stayed that way until the clock hit zero. Houghton goalie Ella Markham earned the shutout victory.
“I have nothing but praise for the entire team.” Mattila added.
Despite the loss, Mountaineers coach Bethany Merrill was very pleased with the effort her team showed.
“This was our best game ever.” she said. “I liked the timing and communication. We played as a team in both the first and second halves.”
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The Gremlins will welcome the Market Sentinels to the Houghton turf on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
