MANISTEE - In a long-running rivalry matchup, the Ludington Orioles got two second half goals from Parker Wendt and fended off a late rally to defeat the Manistee Mariners 2-1 on Wednesday evening.
The loss was the first of the season for the Mariners (6-1-2). Ludington improves to 9-4 on the season, and with the win, the Orioles leapfrogged the Mariners in the West Michigan Conference standings.
The game was scoreless at the half, thanks in part to the goalkeeping efforts of Grayson Prince for the Mariners and Gabe Gamez and Caleb Sheldon for the Orioles. Gamez started the game in net, but suffered a knee injury partway through the first half, necessitating the move to Sheldon in the Ludington net.
Early in the second half, Wendt would take a pass from Ryan Kandalec near the top of the box, turn and fire a shot that would pick the upper left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead. He would strike again midway through the half off of an assist from Ultan Ryan to make it 2-0 advantage.
The Mariners would respond just over five minutes later, as Luke Senters scored on a penalty kick to pull Manistee within a goal.
The Mariners would have a number of late opportunities to equalize, but Sheldon was able to keep the Mariners off the board and earn the victory.
“Everybody played really good. I was really proud of the team,” Sheldon said after the game. “We handled the ball well. We were communicating, which was something we struggled with last game. We came out with the right intensity. Yeah, just all around we played pretty good.”
Ludington Head Coach Kris Anderson praised his team’s effort after the game. “I’ve been talking to my boys about 80 minutes. 80 minutes of mistake-free, solid, focused all game long, and today we played an 80-minute solid game.”
“They always give us a good, hard game every year,” Ludington senior Mason Marrison said. “No matter what happens, we always try to play it with our highest intensity.”
Ludington hosts Muskegon Oakridge on Wednesday, September 20th. Manistee returns to action on Monday, September 18th on the road at Montague.
