In the 2-0 victory over Cedar Springs, freshman Olivia Bowling was all over the park, seeing the entire field and playing penetrating passes through the Red Hawk defense. The competitive match took a turn that saw the advantage go to the Rangers, but it took until the second half for that to happen.

In the first half, the Rangers dominated possession. Cedar Springs’ defense stayed packed in a defensive line that, at times, looked like there were eight people. FHC was unable to penetrate through the defense for a majority of the half, and they didn’t have many scoring chances. The biggest problem the Red Hawks presented was their determination, as they played hard throughout the game and obviously were playing to win. Even while playing to win, they did play a defensive style, and the half finished at 0-0.

Throughout the second half, the Rangers picked up the intensity. While the girls knew that they were better than the Red Hawks technically, they were struggling to score. The girls pushed the ball up further in the second and played balls out wide that were crossed in. In the first half, the Rangers tried to build play up through the middle and beat the defense, but the Red Hawks made it very difficult for the Rangers to beat the packed defensive line. So, in the second half, FHC played balls out wide and crossed them into the middle, which created many more chances than there were in the second half.

Sophomore Audrey Svoboda broke the deadlock in the second half with a shot from outside the 18-yard box, and freshman Olivia Bowling doubled the lead only a few minutes later. The Rangers managed to hold on to the lead for the rest of the game, as Cedar Springs didn’t present much of a threat offensively.

With this win, the Rangers advance to 6-0-1 on the season. The next game for the girls is a matchup against Lowell, whom they beat twice last year.