CHARLEVOIX — Henry Juneau has had quite a few hat-trick games during his three-year Harbor Springs soccer career.
Tuesdays rivalry match against Charlevoix had all the making of one of those rare scoreless nights for Juneau 70 minutes in during a tight 2-1 game.
But, that’s the beauty of Juneau’s game. There’s a motor in there that doesn’t stop.
Eighty minutes of soccer later, it was a three-goal hat-trick and 5-1 win for Harbor Springs.
There were some frustrations to battle through for the Rams, but once the gates opened, the flood was on.
“I think we just started slow, didn’t really expect it,” Juneau said following the win. “I think the conditions of the field weren’t the best, so it altered how we play a bit. Once we found our footing and started moving the ball better, we found it right away.”
At the high school level, Juneau wasted no time making a name for himself, bursting out with a 38-goal, first team all-state season as a freshman.
As a sophomore a year ago, he topped himself with 48 goals in 18 games, again being named first team all-state.
Dealing with frustrations of being a marked player out there, field conditions or whatever else has just become part of the game for Juneau. He knows opponents will have an eye on him everywhere.
“I feel like it’ll be a little bit of a challenge, but I’ve got a great group of guys around me and I think we can get through anything,” Juneau said.
The Rams leaned on a couple of them to get things going against the Rayders, with Anthony Atkinson breaking the scoreless tie early, then Ryan Novak got things moving again late with a score, which is when Juneau then took over.
“I think we all started being more confident in our play,” he said. “We started moving the ball well, started attacking down field and it just started clicking.”
It could be a microcosm of how the season may go for the Rams, learning to weather the storm until opportunity comes.
Juneau has big goals again personally, though the main focus is all on collecting some hardware.
“I’d love to win a region or states. I’d love to get one of those big trophies for the town,” he added.
Between being dynamic again up top, to a returning starter in goal in Greyson Rife, Harbor has the makings of a team capable of a run.
They’ll just of course need to first focus on a challenging Northern Shores Conference schedule, where teams particularly have an eye on them. Though that’s always expected in Charlevoix.
“When you come to Charlevoix, they’re always going to give us a battle,” Harbor Springs coach Jeff Suffolk said. “It makes league games really fun.
“Credit to (Charlevoix coach) Jon Boss. He just took the program over two weeks ago. He’s an awesome guy, awesome soccer guy and it’s great he’s running it.”
The Rayders picked up a second half score from Charles Kelly, then had sophomore keeper Patrick McClure make multiple impressive saves in goal, with Suffolk calling him a “stud” afterward.
League play continues for Harbor with a visit from Traverse City St. Francis Thursday, Aug. 21, while Charlevoix takes on Kingsford in a non-conference home match Thursday.
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor Springs’ Juneau knows working through frustrations part of the game now
Reporting by Drew Kochanny, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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