WHITEHALL — After his team beat Shelby 2-0 in its West Michigan
Conference opener Monday, Whitehall coach Dillon McCarthy eagerly raced
into the locker room to celebrate with his team in an unorthodox
fashion. The team belted out an impromptu karaoke performance of Natasha
Bedingfield's "Unwritten," the reward for a win well earned.
The
Vikings (2-2, 1-0 WMC) still know there's plenty to work on - they had a
slew of corner kick chances in the second half and were unable to cash
any of them in - but those could wait to be addressed until the next
day, thanks in part to an impressive shot from about 25 yards out by
junior Samuel Chona with 12:37 to go. Chona has been a part-time player
early this season while getting some action on the JV, but he's emerged
as an offensive threat.
"I give him a hard time because he had two field goals (shots go above the goal and through
the uprights) before that, so technically he had seven points on the
night," McCarthy said. "No one is saving that shot. It was definitely
icing on the cake to secure the win.
"When he finally settled in a bit and he realized, positionally, where he could play, he fit in great with the varsity."
Whitehall's Carter Burrous tries to get the ball past Shelby's Caleb Huls during Monday's game at Whitehall. The Vikings won, 2-0.
Whitehall
took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal by Greyson Konecny, a
sophomore and another piece of the Vikings' youth movement this season.
McCarthy also credited Andrew Parker for coming "off the bench and
play(ing) out of his mind" and senior center back Chandler Culp for
stabilizing the team's defense and recording an assist.
It was
the second varsity shutout for keeper Ethan Sylvester, who also blanked
West Michigan Aviation in the team's second game of the season.
"He
had six or seven saves (against Aviation) that I don't think he always
saves," McCarthy said. "He got tested a few times, and he's
doing a
lot more commanding of the back line, too, which we need with
the inexperience."
The Vikings' inexperience has been a
factor early in the season, including on those corner kicks. The WMC as a
whole is shaping up as an interesting race, with many of the top teams
replacing large chunks of their rosters. Whitehall knows continued
improvement will be necessary in order to make its presence felt in the
race.
"We're
trying to find consistency," McCarthy said. "Coming into
the game, we didn't really know where we were at in the league. We know it's kind
of open right now, and I think there's a lot of teams in this middle ground where it's who shows up on any given night.
"We celebrate, then we're back to the drawing board," McCarthy said. "We've got to get better
at our set pieces, organization in the back, capitalize on more of
our corner kicks."
