The Ionia Girls Varsity Soccer Team took on Greenville in the district opener on Wednesday night. Kara Kramer scored an early goal in the first three minutes off a Kelila Rustin assist. The game went back and forth for most of the first half but Greenville was able to score a couple goals to end the half with a 2-1 advantage. We recouped at half time and challenged ourselves to leave everything out on the field in a win or go home scenario. 

Rylie Dinehart started the second half with an early goal on an assist by Martina Sierra. The game again went stale and went back and forth yet again. With 11 minutes left in the game Greenville snuck in a goal in the upper 90 to grab a 3-2 lead. We once again found ourselves with our backs against the wall. With 1 minute remaining in the game, Addyson Roundtree got a nice touch on the ball to send it up to Rylie Dinehart. Rylie outran the entire defense to score and tie the game at 3-3. This would end regulation in a tie, sending us to overtime.  

In the first overtime, neither team scored. This sent the game to double overtime. Midway through the second overtime, Marte van Diest sent in a corner kick that Rylie Dinehart controlled and put in the back of the net to WIN the game and score her THIRD goal of the game. It was the type of game where you dig deep and find some sort of gas left in the tank and just gut it out. Our girls did exactly that to pull out the win.

Rylie Dinehart scored a hat trick on the night, making this her 8th goal in 5 games. Kara Kramer-Lake scored a goal to put her total for the season in the double digits (10). Martina Sierra recorded an assist, which is her third in three games. Kelila Rustin also recorded her first assist of the season from the goalie position, as well as adding 20+ saves on the night. This puts Kelila less than 25 saves away from being 5th place all time in MHSAA history for saves in a single season. 

Ionia improves to 5-10-2 on the season. We will travel to Forest Hills Central to take on Forest Hills Central next Tuesday (5/31) for round two of districts. Kick off will be at 7.