HOLTON -- It was further than any TC Liberty team had gone, but still not as far as the team hoped for.
The Liberty dropped a close 1-0 decision to Muskegon Western Michigan Christian in Friday's Division 4 regional final.
"This is the farthest we've ever been, so the girls were really excited," midfielder Julie Doherty said. "We had a lot of opportunities, but in the end it wasn't our day."
"In the first half, we had a half dozen crosses that just didn't go in the net," TC coach Bill Auxier said.
It was the third time in four years that the Liberty's playoff run has been ended by WMC.
"It was a very close game," Auxier said. "It could have gone either way."
"It was a rough game," forward Helene Dryden said. "We were pretty evenly-matched teams. They got lucky on one of their shots and we didn't."
Three seniors who saw all three of those runs -- Dryden, Doherty and Kelley Ritsema -- played their final prep soccer game. Dryden is going to try to walk on at Michigan State, and Doherty will try the same at Notre Dame.
The game was moved to Friday at 2 p.m. after conflicts arose with graduations for both teams.
WMC's commencement was Friday night, while Traverse City Christian's is this afternoon. Christian is part of the Liberty co-op, and Ritsema is a key cog in the team's offense.
"I was a little worried about how they would schedule it, because I didn't know what I'd do," said Ritsema, who will play collegiately next year at Cornerstone College under WMC coach Dan McAllister.
Holton's unfamiliar artificial turf playing surface made the game a little bit of an adjustment.
"Playing on the turf is always hard to adjust to," Ritsema said. "We had our ups and downs, but overall we left everything on the field."
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