Prep soccer players are back on the pitch for what promises to be an exciting 2025 season with high hopes for all three teams of Leland, Glen Lake, and Suttons Bay.
The Comets hungry to get back to the top
Leland starts the year ranked No. 2 in the MHSAA Div. 4 after falling in the regional final against the eventual State Champion, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian to end last season.
The Comets started the season at the Boyne City Invitational, where they played Div. 1 Birmingham Seaholm and the reigning Div. 2 state champions, Warren De La Salle Collegiate. They lost to Seaholm 2-1 when Seaholm scored with a minute and a half left.
Leland senior forward Adrian Spencer scored off an assist from Nano Creamer. They lost to Warren De La Salle 2-0.
“It’s up to some of the younger guys to step up and contribute, and it’s no different this year. My main goal is to have these guys gel and play as a team," Leland coach Rob Sirrine said.
Sirrine still has the goal of winning a state championship and believes he has one of the best teams in the state even after losing plenty of firepower last year.
His players have the same mindset.
“I’d say every year since I came in as a freshman, our goal was to make it to the state championship, and that’s been our minimum,” said Ravello Smith, senior at Leland. “I want to build my guys up.”
Senior Ignacio Creamer believes the same as his teammates and coach, but he has confidence in the Comets could be playing in the championship at the end of the season.
“The goal we’ve had for the past couple of years, since 2018, winning states, that’s a major goal,” Creamer said. “We’re always going to give it our all, and we have a pretty good team this year.”
Leland has their first home game Tuesday, Aug. 19, against Div. 4
North Muskegon, followed by travelling to Grandville Calvin Christian. Their second home game will be against Traverse City St. Francis August 28.
Glen Lake ready to prove themselves
After falling to Leland in the district finals, Glen Lake brings back a roster that didn’t lose any seniors from the previous year.
A more experienced team has head coach Jared Boynton excited about the year and the goals the team could accomplish.
“We didn’t have a single senior on the team, so all those juniors and sophomores are now juniors
and seniors, so we’ve got more experience out of that,” Boynton said. “One of our biggest goals that we’ve always had is to put up a banner. There are no Glen Lake Boys soccer banners in the gym, so these guys wanted to put in the work and get ourselves a banner.”
Glen Lake started the season at the Hart Invite, where they played Brooklyn Columbia Central and Hart. In their first game against Columbia Central, they won 3-1 with Sawyer Homa scoring twice, and Hunter Cox had another. Ezra Belanger and Anthony Forton both assisted goals in the
game. Forton also had 11 saves in the game. In their second game against Hart, the final score was a 2-2 tie, where Hart had a two-goal lead and Cox netted two to tie with assists from Homa and Ollie O’Neal. Coach Boynton gave recognition to senior Tanner Crick and freshman Baxter
Homa, who played great defense. All three goals given up by the Lakers were on penalty kicks.
Cox wants to help his team with the goals he has set for himself, such as achieving double-digit assists.
“I think being able to get a banner up in the high school gym would be another goal,” Cox said. “Score double-digit assists, I had a lot of good assists last year.”
Eli Maule has similar goals, such as scoring the first goal of his high school career, but the senior was more focused on defense.
“I’m going to agree with Hunter and say I would love a banner in our gym, and I also don’t want to lose in our conference, I think we have that capability,” Maule said. “Something I did last year is I brought a form of leadership to the defensive line, and I want to move forward and continue
that.”
Glen Lake goes to Elk Rapids to play the JV team on Tuesday, August 19, and will host Cadillac on August 22 for their first home game.
Read the Suttons Bay soccer preview in Thursday, Aug. 21 Leelanau Enterprise!
