SPORTS

Thorpe delivers in the clutch again, sends Harbor to district final

Drew Kochanny
The Petoskey News-Review
Harbor Springs players flock to teammate Grace Thorpe (far right) after she gave the Rams the lead in the second half against Leland Wednesday during their Division 4 district match at Ottawa Stadium.

HARBOR SPRINGS — Come Saturday, Grace Thorpe will lace up a pair of spikes representing Harbor Springs in a number of sprint events at the Division 4 track state championships. 

First, however, she’s got some unfinished business in a different pair of cleats. 

Harbor Springs' Lizzie Bassett rushes to embrace teammate Grace Thorpe (8) after she sent in the game-winner against Leland.

Thorpe was busy getting in her sprint work Wednesday night at Ottawa Stadium in Harbor Springs, though it came as the Rams were fighting to stay alive in the soccer postseason.

Tied in a 1-1 game with Leland in their D4 district semifinal, Thorpe came through to give the Rams a 2-1 advantage in the second half. When it was then tied up once again, Thorpe let her speed really show.

With just two minutes left on the clock, Thorpe chased down a through ball, beat her defender, then delivered the game-winner to advance Harbor to the district championship with a 3-2 win. 

Now used to these busy district and state finals weeks as a senior, Thorpe knew she just had to find that last little bit in the tank. 

“States are coming around for track and I’m a senior so the pressure is on,” said Thorpe. “We had it and we know we’re a good team. We had the momentum, we just always play down to our opponent. I just think we found it there and pushed through.”

Harbor Springs head coach Aaron Riley and the rest of the Ram team run on the field to greet Grace Thorpe and Teagan Inglehart after the win.

Before she found that last gear, Harbor Springs head coach Aaron Riley kept on his team from the sidelines, while calling out to Thorpe regularly to stay with it. 

“It was really intense, but I know we play well under pressure and when Coach Riley gets angry, it helps us a lot,” said Thorpe with a laugh. “I play better when I’m angry.”

Not surprisingly, Thorpe was the first one Riley ran onto the field to celebrate with when the final buzzer rang and the Rams punched their ticket to a hosted Division 4 district final at 6 p.m., Friday, June 2 against rival Charlevoix. 

Harbor Springs' Teagan Inglehart (left) sends a pass over to a teammate during the second half.

Riley himself had to catch his breath a little after the intensity of Wednesday’s game, hoping everyone that came out to support and sat through some rain enjoyed as well. 

“I think the fans got their free admissions worth out of that game,” said Riley with a big smile. “We’ve got a young crew and they got their first taste of district play. It’s more intense and there’s ups and downs during the game and you’ve just got to learn from it. I told the girls earlier that they’re going to make mistakes, it’s just who can rebound from it. Both Leland and us had mistakes that led to goals, we were just fortunate to come out on top.”

Leland struck first Wednesday, with Addi Waskiewicz sending in a free kick to make it a 1-0 Comets lead, then Harbor’s Sierra Kruzel responded with a one-timer header sent in off a corner kick from teammate Sophie Barnadyn. 

After the 1-1 halftime, Thorpe put the Rams up the first time with around 32 minutes left, then Leland answered back with a breakaway score by Willa Murray. 

Harbor Springs senior Katelyn Drayer sends a shot down field on a goal kick in the first half against Leland.

Looking like things could be heading to overtime, Harbor’s Teagan Inglehart played a ball through to Thorpe, who just had to use her speed and beat the keeper from there. 

It comes as one of a number of big postseason games for Thorpe over her career, which includes a district hat-trick that advanced the Rams at Ottawa Stadium two years back. 

“As a team captain, she knows when the team needs her and once again, it’s always the postseason,” said Riley on Thorpe. 

While the Rams are young across the board, they’ve also got key senior pieces they rely on, inclduing Thorpe, Inglehart, Kruzel, Josie Baker on the back end and Hailey Fisher in net, to name a few. 

Harbor Springs' Sierra Kruzel (left) tries for a second header score  off a corner kick in the second half against Leland.

“All my seniors, they all know that this could have been their last game,” added Riley. “So, the speech at halftime was, ‘You’ve got 40 minutes, is this the way you want to end it?’” 

District finals won’t come much bigger than Friday at Ottawa Stadium as Charlevoix heads in after a 1-0 victory over Glen Lake. 

The Rams earned a 4-1 victory the last time the two met this season, though they also tied in a 0-0 draw to open the 2023 season. For one of the two come Friday, the score will finally be settled. 

It’s the first district championship meeting between the two rivals since a 1-0 overtime victory back in 2013 for the Rayders. They’ve met three other times during the postseason since then, with Harbor going 2-1 in those contests. They last met in a 2021 Harbor Springs 2-0 victory.

Harbor Springs' Lilly Barnadyn (right) runs in to disrupt a shot by Leland's Hadley Bison in the first half Wednesday.