By Shy’Ana Thomas
The Grand Rapids Community College women’s soccer team lost their second game of the season to returning opponents from Kellogg Community College, following a draw against Clearly University JV. The energetic game unfortunately ended in a 2-3 loss for the Raiders on Aug.28.
Even though the Raiders put up a good fight they were unable to walk away with the victory to the Bruins for the third time in the team’s history. This is the first loss of the season, after the previous draw of 2-2 in the first game versus Cleary University junior varsity.
Samantha Hunting, a midfielder and returning player for the Raiders, shared her thoughts on the team’s second season and how they’ve grown from the last while reflecting on Wednesday’s defeat.
“I feel like we’re really starting to come together as a team, we’re really starting to get along more,” said Hunting. “There is a lot more communication on the field which is really good. We’ve got a long way to go and we’ll keep working as a team and we’ve got a lot more time to grow together and learn how we play off each other and just have a really great season.”
Jason Hill, who is now in his second year as GRCC’s head coach, put the loss into perspective.
“(They’re a) great team and they’re coached very well… They recruit very well and they’re good players top to bottom,” Hill said about the Bruins. “So, for us, this result was a measuring stick to see where we stack against the better competition in our region … And it looks like our ceiling is pretty high, it’s up to us to see what we do.”
Even with the defeat, the Raiders still remained in good spirits and saw the good they did.
The first half of the match was rough for the Raiders. But, once the second half started, they turned it around and scored two goals along the way. One from Amelia Hancock at the 50th minute, and one by Hunting, who was assisted by Ava Simonson at the 83rd-minute mark, and goalkeeper Kaitlyn O’Brien clutched five saves.
Hunting went on to share more thoughts on the game.
“I think we played really well, I think (we’ve grown) a lot since the first game. We found a lot more passes and we were a lot more confident and also just having more fun out there instead of being just (stressed) and nervous about the games,” she said.
The Raiders are looking forward to getting their first win for the new season taking on St. Clair County Community College next at 3 p.m. on Sept. 3 in Marysville, Michigan For more information, go to Grccraider.com.
