Unity Lead Scorer Raring to Return
September 20, 2019
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
HUDSONVILLE – Unity Christian soccer standout Kadin Shaban isn’t accustomed to standing on the sidelines and helplessly watching his teammates compete.
Unfortunately, that’s Shaban’s current role after suffering an ankle injury two weeks ago during a game against Zeeland West.
“It’s hard to watch,” Shaban admitted. “I’ve kind of been losing my mind watching.”
Shaban was diagnosed with a high ankle sprain and has missed the last four games for the reigning Division 3 champion.
The top-ranked Crusaders have remained unbeaten (8-0-4) in his absence, but coach Randy Heethuis is looking forward to having his returning all-state Dream Team player back in the fold.
“It’s been a bummer, and we are a completely different team without him, but hopefully we can get him back very soon,” Heethuis said. “Hopefully when he is able to get back out there he can pick up where he left off, because he was having a tremendous season up until getting hurt.”
Shaban is Unity’s top goal scorer, and has been every year since arriving on the high school scene.
The 17-year-old scored 20 goals as a freshman and followed that up with 22 goals and 10 assists as a sophomore.
Last season, he notched 31 goals and 21 assists while helping spark Unity to a Division 3 title. He already had tallied 12 goals and nine assists this season.
Shaban’s penchant for finding the back of the net was apparent from the onset.
“When he came in as a freshman at our opening tryout, he very much made his presence known and showed he had a knack for scoring,” Heethuis said. “He is one of those kids who thoroughly loves soccer and he has continued to progress, continued to get better and continued to work on his game.”
Shaban’s four-year stint on the varsity has been rare in the school’s boys program, and his 85 career goals are the most in school history.
And while he has blossomed into a prolific goal scorer, Shaban said it didn’t begin that way.
“Actually, I started out as a defender on my first club team,” he said. “And I remember scoring my first ever goal in U-9 with my knee. I remember that to this day.
“I did not start out as a goal scorer, but then I ended up moving up through the positions and then by U-13 I was the goal scorer. I think it’s the best feeling there is to be able to score, and every game I want to try and score.”
Two of Shaban’s biggest tallies came last fall when he had a pair in a thrilling 3-1 overtime win over Grosse Ile in the Final. The title was Unity’s fifth.
“It was my third year of trying to get one and to finally get it was fun, especially doing it with all of my friends,” Shaban said.
Shaban has verbally committed to sign with Michigan State and will be one of only four or five players from Unity who will have gone on to play Division I soccer, according to Heethuis.
Shaban’s competitive nature has been compared to former Unity star Jared Timmer, who went on to play at Butler.
“Both of them are very competitive and love the game of soccer,” Heethuis said. “Two very special players, but yet different types of players on the field.
“Kadin is smaller than Jared was, but he’s got quick feet and he’s very shifty. He is a difference-maker on the field, and anytime he gets the ball he is a threat to score. The opposition, when he gets the ball, you hold your breath like, OK, what’s going to happen next?”
Shaban’s passion for soccer came from his father, Talal.
“He was born in Nigeria and grew up overseas,” Shaban said. “He was over there in Lebanon, and it’s a whole different sporting world because soccer has always been big there.
“When he came here he instilled that in me when I was young, and him and I just love the game and we watch it. The teams we follow are rivals so that makes it pretty interesting, and he’s coached me all the way through.”
Shaban hopes for a return to the field next week and is determined to help the Crusaders in their bid to end this season on a high note.
“We’ve had a couple shaky games in conference play, but we’re hoping to turn it around come tournament time and go all the way,” Shaban said. “That’s the dream, to go back-to-back.”
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at[email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Unity Christian’s Kadin Shaban stretches to push the ball into Grosse Ile’s net during last season’s Division 3 championship game win. (Middle) Shaban, after receiving his medal at last year’s Final.
Grand Rapids Christian Completes Late-Season Surge with 3rd Finals Title
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
November 6, 2021
COMSTOCK PARK – Grand Rapids Christian’s boys soccer team didn’t really start clicking until the MHSAA Tournament began with Districts 3½ weeks ago.
Once the Eagles got rolling, however, they could not be stopped.
Grand Rapids Christian struck twice early in the Division 2 Final against Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice on Saturday at Comstock Park High School and made those goals stand in a 2-1 victory.
It was the first MHSAA soccer championship in 20 years for the Eagles (17-7-2), who reeled off seven-straight wins in tourney play after losing four of their last six regular-season games and tying another.
“Really, (the Eagles began to believe) once we started the tournament. We started getting on a roll, things started clicking and then after that it just started rolling for us,” said Grand Rapids Christian senior Benjamin Kuiper, whose goal with 17:22 left in the first half gave his team a 2-0 lead and proved the winner.
“I felt like after the win against Gull Lake, that was really when we were at our highest and our peak. After tonight, it’s just amazing – it’s great.”
Grand Rapids Christian, which was No. 13 in the last Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association Division 2 rankings, knocked out No. 1 Gull Lake in Wednesday’s Semifinal, 2-1.
The Eagles also took out No. 8 Petoskey and No. 9 Spring Lake in last week’s Regional.
Brother Rice (10-7-4), which was making its first Finals appearance in a dozen years, had lost three of its last four regular-season games and tied in the other entering the District tourney. The Warriors, who were nowhere to be found in the state rankings, punched their ticket to the Finals with a shootout win over DeWitt in Wednesday’s other Semifinal.
“Putting the school back on the map in the soccer sense,” Brother Rice coach Danny Price said of this season’s success. “Not a lot of people, including the press, were thinking about Brother Rice, and rightly so after the last seven or eight years.
“Just so much to be proud of: District title, Regional title. Everything we’ve done this season has been perfect. (The Eagles are) a good team – take nothing away from them.”
Grand Rapids Christian got on the board with 27:32 left in the first half when senior Hans Pruis beat the Brother Rice keeper to a loose ball and knocked it into the net.
Immediately following Pruis’ tally, as well as Kuiper’s 10 minutes later, the Eagles goal-scorers and their teammates sprinted over to the stands on the south side of the field and celebrated in front of a large student section.
Trailing 2-0 at halftime, Brother Rice came out in the second half with much more urgency. The Warriors pulled within 2-1 with 13:54 remaining, when senior Romas Mitrius scored on a header off junior Enzo Bordogna’s free kick.
That proved the only blemish on the day for Grand Rapids Christian junior keeper Alexander Scofield, who finished with nine saves. Junior Henry Allen made six saves for Brother Rice, which was outshot 13-10.
Eagles coach Aric Dershem acknowledged his team went to more of a defensive approach in the second half, knowing that the Warriors were going to turn up the intensity.
“Oh, man, (Scofield) came up so huge today, yes. Coming into this season, he was fighting for the starting spot and he just came up huge every opportunity that he had – even in the Semifinal against Gull Lake, he kept us in the game,” Dershem said.
“A keeper can’t win the game, but they can lose you the game, and he kept us in the game today long enough that we could just hold on and get the win.”
Grand Rapids Christian surrendered only four goals during the postseason.
Scofield admitted he was a little nervous in the second half, but he and the defense in front of him got the job done.
“My coaches like to say, 2-0 up at halftime is the worst lead to have because they score once, they’ve got most of the momentum; they score again, they’ve got all of the momentum and they’re more likely to score again. So we were a little nervous, especially after they scored that first goal,” Scofield said. “But our defense managed to pull through.”
Grand Rapids Christian’s seniors lingered around the Comstock Park stadium to take photos with the championship trophy, which will go alongside the Eagles’ titles from 2001 and 1998.
Kuiper was one of the players savoring the moment, which some may have not thought possible as recently as a month ago.
“Oh, it’s amazing,” Kuiper said. “The past few years, we haven’t been doing the best in the tournament, so it feels amazing to go all the way.”
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Rapids Christian’s Eli Leegwater (22) and teammates celebrate during Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) The Eagles’ Evan Thornton (8) and Rice keeper Henry Allen work to gain possession. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)