Raider Soccer tops Eaton Rapids, Leslie and Fowlerville

The Portland Girls Soccer took the field Thursday evening to face the Greyhounds from Eaton Rapids. With a tough loss to Lansing Catholic last week the Raiders looked to rebound and get back in CAAC League play. The game started off very even with both teams pressuring each other's defense looking to be the first team to score. The first half ended scoreless 0-0. Eaton Rapids wasted no time and was able to get the first goal of the game in the opening minutes of the second half. Just a couple minutes later they scored again taking a 2 goal lead over the Raiders. ER had a chance to make the game 0-3 but missed on a penalty kick opportunity.

Down 2 goals the Raiders continued to battle. With 20 minutes left in the game Kalya Zerfas found the back of net from a bobbled ball by the ER goalie. With only 8 minutes left senior Sami Rushin was able to find Ashley Bower in front of the net for a spectacular header to tie the game 2-2. The momentum didn't stopped for the Raiders as they continued to press the Greyhound defense for the winning goal. With only 5 minutes left in the game Ava Gruber connected with a pass to Ashley Bower who found the back of the net for the game winning goal.

The Portland squad claimed victory on Saturday winning both games at the Spring Sports Carnival without conceding a single goal. In their first game of the day the Raiders faced Leslie High School. The ladies were able to go up 1-0 in the first half with a goal by Sami Rushin and assisted by a pass from Hannah Schrauben. The second half was a stalemate as neither team scored but ended in a victory for the Raiders.

In the championship game the Raiders face Fowlerville who defeated Lansing Waverly 1-0 in their first round play of the tournament. Wasting no time to get on the leader board the Raiders jumped to a 1-0 led just a few minutes in with a goal from Ashley Bower. The first half ended 1-0 but didn't remain for long as Ashley Bower was able to find another goal from the Raiders to put them up 2-0 just a few minutes in. Bower would find the net again with a pass from Ava Gruber to put the score at 3-0. With 10 minutes remaining in the game freshmen Milia Thelen would find the top cornier of the net to put the final score at 4-0 . Katelyn Stanton finished the evening as goalie earning two shutout for the Raiders.

Girls Varsity Soccer moves to 4-3 on the season and will play home Wednesday at 5:30pm hosting CAAC White rival Charlotte.

Action photos by AJ Guilford and courtesy team photo by unknown photographer.