The Eagles made the trek south to St. Joseph High School to face Sturgis in the regional semifinal.   On a beautiful fall evening, the Eagles came out sluggish and also had to attack into a stiff wind.  After a challenging first 20 minutes, the Eagles began to settle in and compete for every 50-50 ball.  Despite a couple quality chances, however, the match would remain 0-0 at the half.

After settling down during the half-time talk, the Eagles responded brilliantly by coming out of the break with focus, purpose, and a desire to extend their season.   Just two minutes into the half, Isaac Williams played the perfect bending ball just in behind the near-side center back to a streaking David Pontarelli who was able to fire it under the on-rushing goalkeeper and into the back of the net to stake the Eagles to a 1-0 lead.    This “goal of the year” candidate would soon be challenged by another highlight reel goal as the Eagles connected passes in midfield, broke opposing lines, and again found Williams in space on the right flank from a beautiful seeking ball from Peter Borst.  Williams slotted the perfect ball, once again, to John Cassiday, whose one-time finish beat the keeper at the near post.  

From this point, it was all Eagles, who were clearly on the front foot and envisioned more goals to come.   Another well-worked combination on the left flank found Borst on the endline, where he slotted back to Pontarelli who smashed it home to make it 3-0.   Not to be outdone by the combination play of his teammates, Soren White added to the delight when he laced a spectacular effort into the side netting from almost 30 yards out to make it 4-0.   The Eagles would create other quality chances but would see out the match and advance to the regional final with the 4-0 victory.  Josh Dykema would claim the clean sheet in goal.  

The Eagles will play for a regional title on Saturday at 10:00am at St. Joseph High School against Allendale.  

Go Eagles!