Montague soccer's offense sputters in loss to Fremont

MONTAGUE — Montague struggled to get anything going against a Fremont team bent on revenge Wednesday night, and the Packers came away with an 8-0 win.
The win was a measure of vengeance for the returning Fremont players who fell to Montague in last season's district final on the same field. The Packers are also tied atop the West Michigan Conference with North Muskegon, both with 7-0-1 records.
"Fremont is great this year," Montague coach Brandon Mahoney said. "They're strong with good passing. You can hear them out there talking, loud communication. All the things that they will need going forward to battle in their district and hopefully win a district title. I wish them the best. I hope Steve (Vissia, Fremont's coach) and his crew get one this year, and I'm thankful it's not in our district."
The Wildcats (2-12-1, 1-6-1 WMC), conversely, have struggled to build the same kind of on-field chemistry the 2024 team had when it was loaded with senior veterans who had played together for many years. Some of that, Mahoney said, has been seen with less intense practices this season than those groups put together.
"In the beginning of the season, we don't mind having a little slower touches stepping to the ball, but now, we're at the end of the season," Mahoney said. "It's got to be game day speed every practice. If you're playing at half-speed, these guys are going to just run through you and take the ball and they're going to win it. That's what our squad did last year."
Fremont has that chemistry, and it was evident with some of the terrific passing it displayed in the offensive third of the field and the success it had on set plays. Many different Fremont players recorded scores.
Bad luck struck Montague on Fremont's first goal just under 10 minutes into the game, when the Packers' Cam Witteveen got a soft touch of the ball off a corner kick and it snuck in between a few different Wildcats for the goal. That seemed to open the floodgates as Fremont poured in five more goals before halftime.
The Packers went ahead 7-0 just a few minutes after halftime, though to Montague's credit, it tightened up somewhat after that and didn't allow the mercy rule-clinching goal until 26 minutes later. The Wildcats also managed to create a couple of scoring chances in that span.

Mahoney said some players on the team were going to be given a day off Thursday due to the physical grind this season has been; there have been plenty of struggles with injury and illness along the way. At the same time, though, he was pleased to see Michael Jones, one of the team captains, encourage any player that wanted to get some work in to meet with assistant coaches for a practice Thursday afternoon.
It was an example, Mahoney said, of the kind of vocal leadership that hasn't come as naturally to Jones and fellow captain Jonah Henderson as it did to previous Montague leaders.
"The captains that we have this year are two of the nicest guys...They're also two of the less vocal guys," Mahoney said. "I did hear MJ tonight a lot more than I've heard him this season on that back line. He's finding his voice, and I just hope it's not too late. This is what he needs to do."
The season has been frustrating for some of this year's veteran players, who are used to Wildcat teams that are very competitive with even top-level opponents. It's an understandable frustration, Mahoney said, but he hopes his players are able to channel it into a postseason run
"We're two weeks away from districts," Mahoney said. "We've beaten a few teams, so we're probably not going to be at the bottom of the bracket, but we're certainly not going to be (in the position) we were last year. We'll see how it all plays out. It's tough for the boys to stay positive when you can't get a win. We were really positive after (beating) Shelby (in August). We got that win, we felt like we controlled it. We felt like we figured out some of the things and then the next couple matches, we stumbled again."