Inconsistency a factor again for Cheboygan girls soccer in home loss to Ogemaw Heights

CHEBOYGAN – The Northern Michigan Soccer League is highly competitive this spring.

But now, the Cheboygan Chiefs will have to play catch-up after suffering their second league loss of the week, a 3-0 setback to Ogemaw Heights on Friday night.

Here’s some quick takeaways from the clash between the Chiefs (6-2-0, 6-2-0 NMSL) and Falcons (6-2-1, 4-0-0):

Opening 40 minutes a problem again

When the Chiefs suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Tawas on Monday, a lackluster first half was a major problem.

Like Monday, Cheboygan conceded a goal in the opening minutes as Ogemaw’s Jada Gilbert put the Falcons in front 1-0 just under six minutes in. And just like Monday, the Chiefs surrendered a goal right before the half when Hadassah Heintz took a through-ball and delivered a strong finish with just 27 seconds until the break.

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“Ogemaw always plays us tough. It’s always a big match between us two. We knew that, and we got outhustled, we got outworked, and we got mismatched in the first half and they capitalized on it,” Cheboygan coach Tom Markham said. “I thought we played a lot better second half. We had some good opportunities, but you can’t go down two goals before you decide to step up. (Ogemaw was) fast, they were physical, and they had some players that capitalized.”

Signature win

Putting the finishing touch on an impressive road performance was Harper Munson, who sealed a huge win for the Falcons with a goal late.

It was another signature triumph for Ogemaw coach Tom Zaske and his Falcons, who have turned things around in recent seasons and are now a major threat to win the NMSL this spring.

“In our conference, Cheboygan has been the standard for a couple of years now, especially on the girls side, and so it’s always been a struggle,” Zaske said. “The mission today was just win the game. It didn’t matter how, just to prove to ourselves that we deserve to be here. We’ve got a good group of seniors; they’re really good leaders, and they’re showing these underclassmen what it’s like to be in a good program and play hard and the success you can have with that.”

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End of a difficult week

Friday’s defeat was a tough one to take for the Chiefs, who have now lost two of three games after winning their first five. Despite losing, Cheboygan showed improvement and created better scoring chances in the second half.

Battling injuries, it’s been a challenge for a Cheboygan squad that hopes to right the ship in upcoming games.

“We’re hurting, we’re banged up, and we’re hoping to have Taylor (Bent) sometime before the end of the season, and we’re young,” Markham said. “We’ve got a lot of sophomores; we’ve got a freshman that we’re really leaning on. In a close match, in a highly contested match, the one thing you can control is getting outworked, and unfortunately that happened for half of the first half.

“We’re just going to learn from our mistakes and continue on. There’s a lot of soccer season left.”

Cheboygan hosts Houghton Lake on Tuesday, April 30.

Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: First half sinks Cheboygan girls soccer again in loss to Ogemaw Heights