Tigers have great effort but lose CLC battle

HOWARDS GROVE – The Howards Grove Tigers gave a tremendous effort but fell short, 4-3, to Sheboygan Christian in a very competitive boys soccer match Tuesday night at Memorial Park.

“This perhaps was the best game I’ve seen this year. Both teams performed at a high level and played extremely well,” said Tiger head coach Todd Fischer.

“I thought our boys played their hearts out and left everything on the field. We communicated, passed the ball well and were first to the ball as much as we could.”

The Tigers dropped to 1-3 in the Central Lakeshore Conference (2-6 overall).

The teams battled to a 2-2 tie at halftime. Jorren DeMaster and Alex Tislau scored one goal each in the second half to give the Eagles a 4-2 lead. Howards cut the deficit to 4-3 on Nathan Mutsch’s goal, assisted by Duston Rabe,

Howards took several shots in the waning minutes but was unable to knot the score.

Scoring the Tigers’ goals in the first half were Paul Elzinga and Jared Flesch. Flesch made an outstanding shot on a diving header for his goal, assisted by Elzinga. Kyle Hansen had the assist on Elzinga’s tally.

The Eagles’ goals in the opening half were by Andrew Stecker and Zack Flipse.

Tiger goalkeeper Carter Rockhill made several diving saves. “They [Tigers] played great, represented their school well by their outstanding sportsmanship and just plain had fun. I couldn't be more proud,” Fischer said.