Rockford 'Dynasty' Continues to Reign
June 8, 2019
By Perry A. Farrell
Special for Second Half
NOVI – Rockford ran its Division 1 girls lacrosse championship streak to seven straight titles Saturday.
The Rams got past Brighton 21-6, following up a similarly dominant 25-5 win over the Bulldogs in the Final a year ago.
Rockford finished 15-5-1, with four of the losses and the tie coming against teams from Illinois and Ohio.
“It’s a ton of fun, and we have great leadership from our seniors,’’ said Rams coach Mike Emery. “We have great youth coming up through the program, and we’ve really built a culture over the last 10 years. That’s eight championships in the last 12 years. We’ve been in the Semifinal game every year, in all 12 years that I’ve coached. We just have way too much fun.’’
The reigning champs wasted no time scoring as Isabelle Holmes found the net 50 seconds into the game to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.
Exactly 60 seconds later, Holmes added her second to get Rockford off to a good start.
Brighton’s first offensive attack led to a score by Sophie Mondro, but seconds later the Rams scored again on a goal by Katie Rodriguez to make it 3-1.
Rodriguez tacked on another at 20:49 to give Rockford a 4-1 advantage.
With Rockford a player short, Cat Kophcia scored to cut the lead to 4-2. But Sydney Zimmerman emerged from the penalty box and scored to make it 5-2 after running down an errant pass.
Holmes scored her third goal of the half to increase Rockford’s lead to 6-2 at the 12:34 mark. Chloe Dunham then took a feed from Mackenzie Delacher and found the net to give Rockford a 7-2 lead, and Rodriguez picked up a loose ball and scored her third of the game.
Mondro scored her second and third goals of the game for Brighton to trim the deficit to five.
Brighton (16-8-1) mounted a rally as Kophcia scored her second to make it 8-4. But with Brighton a player short, Dunham scored her second goal to extend the lead to 9-4. Zimmerman scored her second as the eventual champs moved ahead 10-4.
Mondro then scored her fourth goal for Brighton, but senior standout Karrington Vander Molen finally got on the board for Rockford as the advantage swelled to 11-5. She finished with three goals.
Dunham scored with 10 seconds left in the half to give the Rams a 12-5 lead.
Rodriguez opened the second half with a goal, her fourth, to make it 13-5.
“It’s so fun,’’ said Rodriguez. “The team aspect of it never gets old. We have so much energy. It’s so fun to win it still.”
Vander Molen added her second goal, and the Rams were rolling, 14-5.
McKenna Rinehart gave the Rams a 10-goal lead, which meant a running clock. Delacher added her second goal to put Rockford up 16-5. Zimmerman added her third to make it 17-5.
“I was happy because we didn’t get beat by as many as last year,’’ said Brighton coach Ashton Peters. “We knew it was going to be a tough game. Rockford is a dynasty.”
Click for the full scoring summary.
PHOTOS: (Top) Rockford raises its latest Division 1 championship trophy Saturday. (Middle) The Rams' Anna Glynn (15) and Brighton's Maddie Mince work to pick up a loose ball.
Brighton Proves Rebuild Successfully Complete with D1 Repeat
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
June 10, 2023
ROCKFORD – The Brighton girls lacrosse team found the ideal way to avoid the revenge trap: Just do your homework and play defense.
That's the combination the Bulldogs utilized to successfully defend its Division 1 title in Saturday's 8-6 win over top-ranked Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern at Rockford High School.
The championship came after Brighton outlasted the BirdDogs 12-11 in overtime in last year's Final.
But instead of allowing Forest Hills Northern/Eastern to avenge last year's loss, Brighton smothered an offense which had ended the regular season with eight straight games of double-digit scoring while averaging more than 14 goals over five tournament games.
Brighton junior goalie Gabrielle Buckenberger said the championship was a result of preparation and defense. As a result, the Bulldogs knew exactly what to expect from the BirdDogs, specifically the fine-tuning of switching on defense and knowing who the FHN/E scorers were.
"We watched a lot of film to prepare ourselves," said Buckenberger, who faced just 11 shots and made six saves. "We tried to go in confidently. For me, I knew if I didn't play my best, my teammates would.
"We've been practicing our defense, and it’s been great all year. We put in the effort and the discipline, and we took time to listen to our defensive coaches and what we learned, we embraced."
The defense was most evident during the second half. Down 5-4 at the break, Brighton (17-8-1) was still behind 6-5 on a FHN/E goal by Mia Dye with 17:23 left. But Brighton's Ella Toth tied the game with 14:51 left, and Brighton then sealed it on goals by Kaia Malachino and Georgia Gill over the final 9:16.
Neither team managed more than a one-goal lead until Gill's with 3:36 left.
Gill, Toth and Lauren Zaccagni all scored twice for Brighton, which lost seven key seniors from last year's champion. A young Brighton team managed just a 2-4 record through the first six games. Included over the last three weeks was a 12-10 loss to Division 2 runner-up East Grand Rapids and a 6-6 tie with FHN/E.
Brighton coach Ashton Peters agreed that the win was all about defense. The six goals was only one from FHN/E's season low of five against Forest Hills Central.
"Our defense was unbelievable. We said all year that our defense was the best it's ever been. We've been focusing on communication and being in possession," Peters said.
"(At the start of this season) we knew there was a gap we had to close. We came in having played a tough schedule, and we knew it was pretty much a rebuilding team that had to trust the process. We had a (four-game) losing streak, and I don't think the players cared about that."
Gill said her teammates were aware of the modest expectations facing the club.
"We definitely had our doubters, people who thought we were going to be toast," she said. "But we trusted the coaches and each other, and the process worked out for us."
BirdDogs coach Joe Curcuru, whose team saw its 12-game winning streak snapped, said the Bulldogs' defense was exceptional.
"We battled hard but just came up a couple goals short," he said. "Brighton's defense was terrific. They slid well behind the ball, and their on-ball defense was great. They also had the ball a lot. I think you'll see the time of possession was pretty strong in their favor. We battled, but in the end we couldn't get the ball in the net."
PHOTOS (Top) Brighton's Cecilia Mainhardt (18) considers her next pass while Northern/Eastern's Julia Kozal (6) and Logan Kirkwood (11) defend. (Middle) FHN/E goalie Sommer-Jo Grieser stops a shot by the Bulldogs' Lauren Zaccagni (10). (Below) Players from both teams scramble for the ball during Saturday's Division 1 Final. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)