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Wildcats can’t get offense going in loss to Falcons

By James Andersen 3 min read

Alpena High boys soccer coach Tim Storch knows his team is going to experience some growing pains this year and Wednesday's game against Ogemaw Heights was a prime example of why.

The Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season--losing to the Falcons 1-0 at Park Family Field at Wildcat Stadium--after being unable to get quality shots on goal and after being outworked by a more experienced team.

Lucas Courtemanche's goal just 59 seconds into the second half was the only goal Ogemaw needed to score a win over their former Big North Conference rivals. Courtemanche converted a shot in close off a free kick, putting a ball past Alpena keeper Mason Bray.

The Falcons outshot Alpena (3-1-1) 8-6 for the game and were aggressive from the get-go, keeping Alpena's keepers and defense on their toes.

"We knew it'd be a tough match coming because our JV lost to their JV last year 3-1 and now our JV is essentially starting at the varsity level," Storch said. "They were just more polished. They were more physical in a smart way; we got physical in stupid ways, but they won 50-50 battles and they were just a more polished varsity team. You could see our youth and inexperience."

A few days after besting three opponents by a combined 18-0 score, the Wildcats couldn't elevate their level of play to match that of the Falcons. Ogemaw had at least a handful of strong scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the game and a had a few near misses in the last 10 minutes of the first half.

A defensive miscommunication nearly resulted in Courtemanche scoring with seven minutes left. He nearly scored again with 2:10 left after tapping a slow roller toward the goal that ultimately went out of bounds to the left of the goal line.

Abe Brege had a good scoring chance for the Wildcats with 19:46 left in the game, just missing on a header off of a corner kick. It was one of the better chances Alpena had on a night when it didn't get many of them.

"We had six shots, but I don't remember a quality shot," Storch said. "We took some stupid shots. I equate it to a basketball player taking a shot from the deep corner and trying to put it over the corner of the backboard. Those are dumb shots and we took a lot of dumb shots."

Alpena will host Sault Ste. Marie on Friday at 5 p.m.

The Wildcats' JV team lost 3-1 to Ogemaw on Wednesday.

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