HUDSONVILLE - The Holland High School soccer players stood in disbelief.
After launching chance after chance at the Unity Christian goal, the buzzer sounded and Los Dutch endured a feeling they hadn't all season - defeat.
Los Dutch lost their first game of the year, and in heartbreaking fashion, a conference championship.
Holland lost 1-0 to Unity Christian in the regular-season finale on Monday, Oct. 12, at Unity, which took the OK Black Conference title with the win - by a half game. Holland had two ties and this loss, while the Crusaders had one loss and one tie (to Holland).
"That was a tough loss to a very good team," Holland coach Greg Ceithaml said. "We played well and played hard. We did everything we needed to do to be successful, which is probably why this hurts so much."
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Holland finished the regular season 13-1-4 and moves to the Division 2 district tournament with a focused mentality.
"I can't think of anything else that could motivate us more," Holland junior midfielder Caelen Gray said. "We were so close, and that will just make us want the next one even more."
Los Dutch host Zeeland East at 6 p.m. Thursday in the postseason opener.
The last time Holland lost its final game of the season and finished second in conference play was 2018 - and Los Dutch went on to win the state championship.
Jacob DeWitt scored the lone goal of the game for Unity with 21 minutes remaining in the second half.
Holland responded with a barrage of chances, but couldn't get one into the back of the net.
Six shots went over the crossbar, one hit the crossbar, one scooted just wide of the goal by inches and Unity Christian goalie Aidan Dykstra made one great save to keep Holland off the scoreboard.
"It is frustrating when shots don't go where you want them to, but that is this game. You get so few chances to score," Ceithaml said. "But I love the way the team fought to the very end. We will use this experience to motivate us into the district tournament."
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland soccer's first loss of season proves costly, motivates for districts