The Sturgis soccer team advanced to the Division 2 district finals after beating St. Joseph 4-0 Thursday on a soggy night in Sturgis. The Trojans will take on Mattawan Saturday for the championship.
Carlos Maldonado scored three goals, Gerardo Ortega registered the fourth and Jose Arias and Eric Patino each had an assist, while Jonathan Gonzalez finished with two. The Trojans took 13 shots on goal compared to St. Joseph’s four. Goalkeeper Isaac Montoya was superb in the shutout, and he got plenty of help from his back line, particularly when the Bears threatened late in the second half.
“Everything that we have been working on this season was put into action by my team tonight,” Sturgis coach Luis Olivares said, “controlling position of the game, one or two touch pass and maintaing the tempo of the game. I told my team that from this day foward any game could be their last, so they must put courage and heart and must fight for the ball until the last second of the game, and that’s exactly what they did tonight.”