Performance: WMC's Jameson Goorman
November 1, 2019
Jameson Goorman
Muskegon Western Michigan Christian senior – Soccer
The Warriors’ senior keeper is the first to credit the defenders in front of him for Western Michigan Christian’s five shutouts in six Division 4 tournament games over the last three weeks. But he deserves ample credit as well, and came up with a number of key saves in last week’s 2-1 shootout win over top-ranked Grandville Calvin Christian to help his team to the Semifinals and earn the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.”
Fourth-ranked WMC will face No. 2 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett in Saturday’s Division 4 Final, and it can be argued no team has traveled a tougher road to the season’s final day. After blanking three District opponents, Goorman helped the Warriors to a 3-0 shutout of No. 3 North Muskegon in the Regional Semifinal. Next was Calvin, and Goorman made two saves during the second period of overtime and two more during the shootout, including on Calvin’s final shot to ice the win. He then had another shutout as WMC defeated No. 5 Dansville in Wednesday’s Semifinal, his 14th shutout this season, which took his goals-against average down to 0.57. Goorman joined the varsity for the District as a freshman and then was the part-time starter for the first part of his sophomore year before taking over when his partner in net was injured. He made the Division 4 all-state third team in 2018 and over his career has logged 45 shutouts, seventh-most in MHSAA history.
Goorman also has played baseball and basketball during his high school career, although he has decided to not play basketball this winter. But the court certainly has had a major impact on Jameson as an athlete, directly and indirectly – his grandfather Jim Goorman led WMC’s boys basketball varsity to 504 wins and five Class D titles from 1980-2012. There’s also a family background in soccer championships – Jameson’s dad Jamie was on the Warriors’ 1988 Class C-D title-winning team. Jameson is hoping to continue playing soccer at the collegiate level and also carries a grade-point average approaching 3.5. He plans to study either nursing or accounting.
Coach David Hulings said: “He knows the game and is able to interpret what he sees so quickly that he’s able to do what he needs to do. This year he had two really great saves, one against Reeths-Puffer that kept us in the game and allowed us to finish with a tie. The other was against Leland in the last five minutes of the game. He made a tremendous save and we won 1-0. … In our first game against Orchard View, they had seven breakaways and Jameson saved every one of them. Those were give-me goals, and he stopped them. I don’t know of a goalkeeper in my nearly three decades of coaching who is better 1-on-1 than Jamo.” (Comments first appeared in the Local Sports Journal.)
Performance Point: “I think since we got to the playoffs, we’ve been playing our best soccer,” Goorman said. “I haven’t had to make a ton of saves, other than the PKs, so most of the credit should go to my defense. (Opponents) haven’t had a ton of opportunities. Against Grandville Calvin Christian we went to a PK shootout. I’ve always been pretty good at PKs, so I just go in there thinking I’m going to save every single PK. For me, I was pretty confident going into it. … My sophomore and junior years, we lost in PKs both years in Regionals. We did not want to go out on PKs again, so we’ve been practicing that all year. I was getting pretty confident in our chances in that. My sophomore and junior year I felt really nervous, but going into the last shootout I felt really confident; I didn’t feel that nervous . I was more excited than I was nervous.”
It’s the guys in front of me: “Brandon Fles, I think he’s one of the top two defenders in the state if not the best defender in the state, in my opinion. He’s been phenomenal since sophomore year. Him and Jake Betten, Isaiah Visker and Brandon Eenigenburg, the whole back line has played really well. I think most of the credit should go to them. There haven’t been too many teams that have challenged me a lot. There’s been some shots, but a lot of them have been from far out and not too hard to handle.”
Playoff path: “Calvin, North Muskegon and Dansville were all really quality teams. … With our team, it’s probably a little different than with any other team. We really like to stay loose, relaxed and just be ourselves for the games. And during practices we stay loose; we have fun. We’re just enjoying every minute of it. … It’s definitely not easy to have fun and stay loose and play hard and keep the intensity up, but I think that’s something we’ve just learned to do well going into the postseason. We’ve been trying to prepare ourselves all year for this, so I don’t think it’s been too hard to bring our best game every single game.”
Grandpa taught us: “It’s awesome being in a family with him. He’s really showed me how to win and how to have confidence, but also not (to) be overconfident and cocky. (He) showed me how to be humble, and I think I really appreciate that – and just how always to have good sportsmanship.”
Pitch play: “(Soccer has) probably come the most natural to me. I’ve had to work harder in baseball to get good at that – I’ve worked at that my whole life. I think soccer has come more naturally, and I’ve put more time and effort into that. I started playing club soccer my eighth grade year. It helped me so much with my feet, helped me get going, and then I started to really love soccer. I played it a lot more, so it became really fun for me, and I love my team. … I think after my sophomore year, I really just started to realize that I loved it more and I enjoyed playing it and I was getting better at it.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past honorees
Oct. 24: Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country - Report
Oct. 17: Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10: Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3: Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Muskegon Western Michigan Christian's Jameson Goorman lines up a kick downfield. (Middle) Goorman makes a save during the Warriors' Regional Final shootout win last week over Grandville Calvin Christian. (Photos by Randy Riksen.)
Western Michigan Christian Completes 3-Peat on Freshman's Final-Minute Score
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 2, 2024
GRAND LEDGE – Cole DeJonge knew it would happen eventually – he and his Muskegon Western Michigan Christian teammates had created too many chances Saturday against Plymouth Christian Academy in the Division 4 Final for it not to happen.
But the senior midfielder couldn’t have predicted just how he’d feel when it did.
Freshman Mason Bonnema scored the game-winning goal with 1 minute, 4 seconds to play, finishing off a beautiful through ball from DeJonge and giving WMC a 1-0 victory and its third-straight Finals title.
“It was pure relief,” DeJonge said. “I’ve never felt so much joy in my life for a goal to go in than that one. We’ve already won two state championships, but nothing was like this one.”
The Warriors have now won 10 Finals titles after reaching their record-tying 17th title game. They are just the third boys soccer program to win three straight Finals titles, and first since Detroit Country Day won eight in a row from 1987-94.
“There is a lot of history, and it’s fantastic history – it’s a school with a legacy of winning state championships,” WMC coach Ben Buursma said. “Our focus every year is to get back to the title game, and we believe we can do it every year. We play a tough schedule, and that helps prepare us. These kids, the growth they showed this year, it was pretty incredible.”
WMC (15-7-3) controlled much of the game, finishing with a 19-7 shot edge (10-3 on frame). But Plymouth Christian’s defense stayed strong under pressure, and when it did leak, senior keeper Jonah Noel came up big.
But that one final chance was too much, as DeJonge played a ball forward to Bonnema who broke free on the right side of the goal and slotted one beyond Noel.
“The game was crazy; it was kind of just back and forth with us possessing and them kicking it out from the back,” Bonnema said. “We just found a breakthrough in the last two minutes. It’s crazy. It’s a great feeling.”
Noel was called into action right before kickoff, as regular starter Nik Vergel suffered an injury during pregame warmups.
He made nine saves, including stifling multiple breakaways to keep his team in the game.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Plymouth Christian coach Ryan Thomason said. “He literally found out in the tunnel that he was starting before we walked onto the field. He hasn’t played goalie in a month and a half. To play the way he did – no nerves, he was out there dribbling the ball like it was basketball season. Couldn’t be prouder of Jonah, ice in his veins. But that’s how all the seniors were on this team. They built a legacy for this program – two Final Fours in four years. I just couldn’t be prouder of them.”
After giving up the go-ahead score, Thomason’s team nearly tied the game on a free kick from senior midfielder Caedmon Whipple.
The captain had a free kick from just outside the left corner of the 18-yard box, and his attempt cleared the wall and started dipping. But WMC keeper Dan Minasian punched it over the bar. The resulting corner didn’t create another chance, and the clock ran out on the Eagles (15-6-3).
Minasian’s save not only preserved a clean sheet and a Finals title, but a perfect postseason, as he and the Warriors did not allow a goal through six playoff games. A year ago, he allowed just one on the way to their title.
“Dan’s been as solid a backstop as you can have in high school soccer,” Buursma said. “He’s been phenomenal over the course of two-plus years, and the defense was incredibly strong in front of him. It’s nice when you have a defense that doesn’t give up many shots, but to have a keeper like Dan back there, we have no worries.”
While there were certainly nerves, that did help calm them as WMC chances went begging on the other end.
Plymouth Christian’s defense did all it could to not give WMC star striker Tekalegn Vlasma any space, but his off-ball movement and DeJonge’s passing created a handful of chances anyway. Noel was able to keep Vlasma off the scoresheet, however, despite his four shots on goal.
“We instituted a system, and the guys worked it to exhaustion,” Thomason said. “We fought really, really hard and they got us in the 79th minute. They’re a great team, and we battled them. We thought if we could get them to overtime, that was kind of the goal. They were just a heck of a team. All credit to them. But we battled, and I’m so proud of us.”
PHOTOS (Top) Mason Bonnema (22) puts a foot into the winning shot for Western Michigan Christian on Saturday at Grand Ledge. (Middle) PCA’s Juan Chacon-Beltran steps into a kick. (Below) Plymouth Christian’s Grant Ramseyer (23) and WMC’s Juan DeJonge battle for possession. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)