Rockford Finishes Unforgettable Run
June 8, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
ROCKFORD – Erika Neumen was a freshman the last time Rockford won an MHSAA girls lacrosse championship. She scored three goals in that 2010 Finals win over Brighton – but said she doesn’t remember much about it.
She’ll never forget Saturday.
Neumen scored this Division 1 Final’s first goal 24 seconds in and added three more and an assist as the Rams claimed their second girls lacrosse championship and she finished her high school career with a 16-7 win over Bloomfield Hills United.
“This moment, when we won the state championship; we’ve been talking about it all season, and now it’s become a reality,” Neumen said. “I think that’s what is going to be most memorable. From day one, we’ve been focusing on this one goal.”
Rockford (21-5), No. 1 in the computer rankings heading into the postseason, had fallen by a goal in the Semifinals in each of the last two years. Beating Bloomfield Hills, ranked No. 4 at the end of the regular season, gave the Rams wins over all of the other four teams ranked among the top five in Division 1 at the tournament's start.
Coach Mike Emery has led his team to a 103-28-5 record and six Semifinals appearances during his six seasons. As he and an assistant coach worked the scorer’s table at last spring’s Final, they said “there was no way we were doing that again.”
He and his staff designed this season’s training to point toward peaking during the playoffs. He took the team on a preseason retreat, and then took his seniors to lunch this week. The juniors already are asking where they’ll be going to lunch before the 2014 Finals.
“The kids responded all year,” Emery said. “This is the hardest-working team I’ve ever had. It didn’t matter what we asked them to do; they did it. Bloomfield played a great game, but my kids were a little faster, played a little harder and came through for a victory.”
Five more Rams joined Neumen in scoring Saturday. Junior Kyleigh Egnatuk scored five goals and had two assists, and junior Kendall Short had two goals and three assists among the team’s highest statistical contributors.
Bloomfield Hills senior Margaret Metzger – who will play next season at University of Michigan – found the net four times in her final high school game to finish with a season total of 90 goals, which unofficially places her 11th in the MHSAA record book for scores in a season.
“I’ve said it before: If she’s not an All-American, I don’t know what an All-American is. I’ll put Margaret up against anyone in this state,” BlackHawks coach Andy Reed said. “She’s a real leader. She played hurt today, got hurt in the first half, and it didn’t even seem to slow her down.”
The BlackHawks made history despite the loss – the Finals appearance was the program’s first and came after the team fell in a pre-Regional game in 2012. Bloomfield Hills finished 19-6 after eliminating four ranked teams on the way to Rockford, including No. 3 Ann Arbor Pioneer.
Emery noticed Rockford’s history sitting in the stands, as a number of former players cheered on their high school team Saturday.
The 2010 championship game was played at Troy Athens. That “upbeat” atmosphere of winning on the Rams' home turf is something else Neumen said she’ll surely remember as she goes on to play next season at Hofstra University.
As one of only three seniors, she very well could be cheering on these teammates as they play for a repeat title in 2014.
“I’m really glad this group of girls was able to stick together and win this together,” Neumen said. “We had better chemistry, and we were able to stick together better. This year you could just tell the girls really wanted it more.
“We’ve been playing pretty good the last couple of games, and it was fun to see the girls really want it.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Rockford junior Molly Simmet (12) charges forward as Bloomfield Hills’ Paige Tornow (3) and Maria D’Angelo close on the ball. (Middle) Bloomfield Hills junior Christina Arens prepares to launch a shot that ended up in the back of Rockford’s net.
Performance: Cranbrook's Isabelle Scane
June 17, 2017
Isabelle Scane
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood junior – Lacrosse
Already Michigan’s all-time leading high school goal-scorer with a season to play, Scane finished her junior year with seven goals – tying for second most in an MHSAA Final – as Cranbrook Kingswood won in sudden victory 17-16 over reigning champion East Grand Rapids in the Division 2 Final on June 10. Leading the Cranes to their first MHSAA title in the sport, with one of her goals coming in overtime, earned Scane the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week” for June 5-11.
Scane, considered one of the top players in the nation for her age group, finished this spring with 146 goals and 37 assists – the 146 goals were the second most for one season, and her 183 total points came in third in MHSAA history. After three varsity seasons, Scane has 365 goals and 93 assists for 458 career points – she holds the career goals record by 89 and needs only two more points next season to tie the career record in that category.
Cranbrook Kingswood had fallen to East Grand Rapids in the 2015 and 2016 Division 2 Finals, and Saturday’s game also was the last for Cranes coach Greg Courter – making the victory that much sweeter. Scane is the second sibling in her family to win an MHSAA lacrosse title, following older brother James who starred at Birmingham Brother Rice and now plays at Robert Morris University (Pa.) and was a major influence growing up. Also a 4.0 student, Isabelle is committed to sign next school year with national power Northwestern University, where she’s considering majoring in pre-med. And here’s a final fun fact: Like many athletes, Scane has highlights posted on the web service hudl; but unlike probably anyone else, she’s also posted a “Me Missing Shots” collection – a light-hearted sign of her humble perspective as she drives to improve her already-substantial game.
Coach Greg Courter said: “Prior to the season, Inside Lacrosse Magazine had Isabelle rated as the number 14 junior in the country. Personally, I think that that rating is low. Were she playing back east, she would be higher. I have coached 10 girls in my career who went on to become Division I All-Americans. Isabelle is already a better and more complete player than any of them. She is a once-in-a-career talent (for a coach). I have no doubt she will be on the U.S. national team in a few years.”
Performance Point: “It was a long hot game. We were out on the turf and it was 90 degrees and we’re a small team with only a couple of subs, so it got pretty exhausting,” Scane said of the Final, which saw the Cranes trailing 12-5 early in the second half. “It kept us going that it was our last time playing this season, and it pushed us through the exhaustion. … I think it’s awesome. Individual awards are nice, but when it comes down to it, being able to get that (win), to get there and get there as a group when we’ve been so close the last few years, and to finish … I’d say it was probably the most exciting game I’d been part of. To come back and win the state championship, coming back from seven goals down to end up winning it – it was an insane back-and-forth game.”
Sending off Coach with a win: “At least for me and a couple other girls, that was the most exciting part about it. He’s been an amazing coach the last three years. We always believed we could do it, but unfortunately we weren’t able to win for him the last few years. It was awesome to finish off his coaching career with the thing we’ve been pushing toward.”
Growing in the game: “Freshman year, I was a younger player on the team and being new to the program, I wasn’t as physically and mentally tough as I am now. I’ve gotten used to the pressure, and I’m able to keep my head in games, which as a freshman I wasn’t able to do. I think the mixture of experience and my coach, he’s always been there to kinda help me figure out how to keep my head in the game mentally, keep working when things aren’t looking as great as they should. The way he’s coached us, the way we practice, he’s done a nice job of it.”
Makes and misses: “You shouldn’t ever be satisfied with how you achieved. If you become satisfied, think you’re better than everyone, think you’re big enough, that’s when you stop getting bigger. It’s necessary to stay humble, to work toward getting better than who you are.”
No rush: “We had only two seniors this year, and I’d love to keep working with the team we have now, keep pushing for another state championship. I’m committed to go play in college, and I would like to continue playing at a higher level. (But) I definitely need to finish off high school – I’d like to keep how well we’re doing, get a state championship for the girls in our class and the girls below, but I also have new stuff coming and I want to keep working toward that so I do well there. I’ve always been told not to rush through high school, so I want to be sure to finish off one last year at Cranbrook.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
June 8: Hunter Eichhorn, Carney-Nadeau golf – Read
June 1: Grace Stark, White Lake Lakeland track & field – Read
May 25: Brendon Gouin, Gaylord golf – Read
May 18: Hannah Ducolon, Bay City All Saints softball – Read
May 11: Mason Phillips, Salem track & field – Read
May 4: Lillian Albaugh, Farwell track & field – Read
April 27: Amber Gall, Shepherd track & field – Read
April 20: Sloane Teske, East Grand Rapids tennis – Read
March 30: Romeo Weems, New Haven basketball – Read
March 23: Jaycie Burger and Maddie Clark, Pittsford basketball – Read
March 16: Camden Murphy, Novi swimming & diving – Read
March 9: Ben Freeman, Walled Lake Central wrestling – Read
March 2: Joey Mangner, Chelsea swimming & diving – Read
Feb. 23: Isabelle Nguyen, Grosse Pointe North gymnastics – Read
Feb. 16: Dakota Hurbis, Saline swimming & diving – Read
Feb. 2: Foster Loyer, Clarkston basketball – Read
Jan. 26: Nick Jenkins, Detroit Catholic Central wrestling – Read
Jan. 19: Eileene Naniseni, Mancelona basketball – Read
Jan. 12: Rory Anderson, Calumet hockey – Read
Dec. 15: Demetri Martin, Big Rapids basketball – Read
Dec. 1: Rodney Hall, Detroit Cass Tech football – Read
Nov. 24: Ally Cummings, Novi volleyball – Read
Nov. 17: Chloe Idoni, Fenton volleyball – Read
Nov. 10: Adelyn Ackley, Hart cross country – Read
Nov. 3: Casey Kirkbride, Mattawan soccer – Read
Oct. 27: Colton Yesney, Negaunee cross country – Read
Oct. 20: Varun Shanker, Midland Dow tennis – Read
Oct. 13: Anne Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country – Read
Oct. 6: Shuaib Aljabaly, Coldwater cross country – Read
Sept. 29: Taylor Seaman, Brighton swimming & diving – Read
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTO: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood's Isabelle Scane works to find an opening during the Division 2 championship game against East Grand Rapids. (Middle) Scane closes in on a possible shot; she scored seven goals in the win.