After a hard-fought win against Forest Hills Northern in the district finals, the Ranger girls’ soccer team headed to Cedar Springs on Tuesday, June 6 to play another local rival, East Grand Rapids, in the regional semifinal game.

Playoffs are brutal because every game is win or go home. The magnitude of each game is huge because each team has an equal opportunity of progressing in the state tournament or end its season. Unfortunately, the FHC girls had the latter in their game against EGR.

EGR was able to execute its game plan of maintaining immense pressure on the Rangers which caused FHC to fall behind. The girls struggled to finish chances, and they did not find the back of the net while EGR was able to score multiple goals. The Rangers lost by a final score of 3-0 to the Pioneers.

“EGR was a very good team, and I think we came into the game unprepared to battle and work our hardest and smartest,” said Ayla Thompson.

Although the season is over, there are still plenty of things to look back on with pleasure. At the beginning of the season, some of the girls shared their goals for their year. While not all of the goals were accomplished, the team was still able to manage to achieve most of them. Before the start of the season, Syd Ryan said, “Our team goals this year are to go far in playoffs again, to beat Spring Lake, and have a winning season.”Unfortunately, the girls fell one game short of a potential match-up against Spring Lake; however, they were able to add another district trophy to the extensive cabinet of hardware they have won as well as making it to regionals. The girls also finished with an impressive 12-6-3 record that includes big wins against FHN and Byron Center.

Overall, the FHC girls soccer team should be proud of this season and look back on it with gratitude for all of the things that continues the success of this exceptional program’s history.