Calvin Christian Wins Rematch of Titans
June 15, 2013
By Chip Mundy
Special to Second Half
MASON – Midway through the first half of Saturday’s Division 4 Final, the Grandville Calvin Christian girls soccer team was behind for the first time in 17 games.
Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes/Clarkston Everest had a one-goal lead and was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in Division 4.
Something had to give.
Calvin Christian wiped out that early one-goal deficit with a goal in the first half and a tie-breaker in the second to post a 2-1 victory over the Lakers and repeat as champion in a rematch of the 2012 title game. Last year, Calvin Christian defeated the Lakers 6-0 in the Final.
“We knew that they had everybody coming back, and they were hungry,” Calvin Christian coach Tim TerHaar said. “The score last year didn’t really represent the fact that it was two quality teams, and we knew that they would be ready to play, and they played a whale of a game.
“We played a good game and worked really hard, and to be honest, I feel fortunate to win this game because they played a great game.”
For the second year in a row, the Lakers entered the MHSAA championship game undefeated, only to return home with the runner-up trophy.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Lakers coach Katie Hearn said. “I don’t know, I think we just didn’t click (Saturday). We picked a bad day to have a bad game, that’s all.”
Senior Brianna Topolewski opened the scoring for the Lakers with an assist from Shelby Mann in the 19th minute. Mann sent the ball across the crease, and Topolewski kicked the ball in past the goalkeeper on the short side.
TerHaar said his team didn’t panic facing a deficit for the first time in weeks.
“I know that we’re a focused team, and we have confidence in our ability to fight back,” he said. “I was really pleased with our response to giving up a goal, that we came and kept pressuring.”
Ten minutes after Topolewski scored, sophomore Hilary Curry answered for the Squires. Curry took a pass from Whitney Koets and beat the goalkeeper on the short side, much like Topolewski did on her goal.
“That was a very important goal that we scored in the first half to be at level footing at halftime,” TerHaar said.
It didn’t take long in the second half for Calvin Christian to gain the advantage. Curry found sophomore Emily Van Vliet ahead of her racing toward the goal on the left side and sent her a perfect pass. Van Vliet then beat the goalkeeper on the far side, and she did it right-footed, even though the left-footed shot would have been easier.
“I’m not a strong left-footed kicker, so I decided to kick it with the outside of my right foot,” Van Vliet said. “I just knew that Hilary would get me the ball. I trust her, and we work really well together, and when she passed the ball to me, I just put it in the net.”
TerHaar praised both players for their part in the game-winning goal.
“It was a beautiful play,” he said. “Hilary Curry isn’t the biggest or the strongest or the fastest player, but she’s a technical genius. She had great vision there and picked out a slot to get the ball to Emily Van Vliet, who finished calmly with a beautiful goal.”
Curry finished with a goal and an assist and took pride in both.
“It’s always fun scoring, but putting us ahead was fun, too,” she said. “It was a closer game (than last year’s title game), which made it more fun and more intense. But it’s always fun to come out and be the champion.”
Calvin Christian (18-2-4) came into the game ranked No. 2 behind the Lakers despite a streak of 11 consecutive shutouts and 15 in their last 16 games. The Lakers likely were ranked No. 1 because they were undefeated and because Calvin Christian lost nine seniors from last year – a fact that rankled the players.
“It feels great for these five seniors,” TerHaar said. “We had read in lots of newspaper stories about how we lost nine seniors from last year. Our team took a little bit of offense to that. But that’s a fact, and we are still a very, very good team, and we’re proud to be state champs.”
The Lakers (20-1 and 38-2-2 over the last two seasons) had a chance to tie the game in the 75th minute when Megan Luttinen’s shot hit the crossbar and bounced over the net.
“It was close to bouncing in, too, so the margin between winning and losing when you have two really good teams is very, very small,” TerHaar said. “We feel very fortunate.”
Calvin Christian held a 9-4 edge in shots on goal as freshman goalkeeper Jordyn Postema made three saves but was denied her 20th shutout.
Calvin Christian is the first repeat champion in Division 4 since Kalamazoo Christian won back-to-back titles in 2007-08. Saturday also marked the first time the Division 4 Final featured a rematch.
“We squandered some chances, and they had some chances as well, with all due credit there. But we did have a couple of chances that probably should have been goals that could have changed the stressful last minutes a little bit,” TerHaar said, “but they played a great game.
“It was a great final.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Calvin Christian senior Carley Sikkema (4) works to control the ball against Waterford Our Lady/Clarkston Everest on Saturday. (Middle) The Squires’ Stephanie Thomasma (3) tries to take the ball from Lakers freshman Allison Maiorana. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Lessons from Multi-Sport Experience Guide Person in Leading New Team
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
August 1, 2024
PARCHMENT — When Amanda Person was in sixth grade, her family hosted an international student from Japan.
Until then, soccer was the main sport for her family – but that soon changed.
“Naoki wanted to play tennis,” Person said. “He started playing and then my sister (Marissa) started playing, and then I started playing.”
That passion for both sports only increased during her four years at Parchment High School.
“Soccer was really fun, but when I look back on my high school career, tennis was the most prominent thing I remember,” the 2008 grad said. “I think it’s because I played year-round: our regular tennis season and then our summer tennis program and winter tennis program.”
Although it has been 16 years since her glory days at Parchment ended, Person has no trouble recalling the best parts of her Panthers sports career.
In fact, coming up with memories from those days is no problem — she has a folder full of photos called “I Miss Team Sports” on her Facebook page.
Playing intramural soccer at Michigan State University, she graduated with a degree in social work, then stayed in the Big Ten. She is the campus tours and ambassador coordinator at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., where she supervises 80 to 100 student tour guides who provide information for families considering the school.
Her ties to the Spartans sometime makes for interesting conversations with her colleagues.
“They give me a hard time,” she said with a quick laugh. “I say Michigan State will always be my No. 1. That’s my alma mater I spent four years of time, tears and money at Michigan State. But I really love Purdue, so I’ll root for the Boilermakers second.”
She is also working on her master’s degree in higher education at Purdue.
Her office in the welcome center shares space with the alumni association, leading to an unforgettable experience.
During a lunch break, she went home to let out her dog, Tessa. When she returned, a trophy and a bucket were sitting on her desk.
Confused, she asked what they were doing there.
“The tour guides I was working with said (during an event) they had to put them somewhere before putting them out (to the public), so they just put them on my desk,” she said.
Turns out, one trophy was the NCAA Final Four runner-up men’s basketball trophy the Boilermakers took home last year after losing to Connecticut in the championship game.
The other was the Old Oaken Bucket, the trophy that goes to the winner between Purdue and Indiana University’s annual football grudge match.
“I didn’t know anything about the Old Oaken Bucket,” she said. “They were like, what do you mean ‘what is this?’ Then they told me the story behind it.”
Creating core memories
Recalling her years at Parchment, Person becomes animated, smiling and laughing at all the memories.
“The first thing I remember is that my sister was really, really good at soccer,” she said. "I was always trying to keep up with her a bit.”
Her dad, Dave Person, noted that “all of our kids (Adam, Marissa, Amanda) had some success in sports during high school while realizing that it was secondary to their education.
“My only input was that I insisted they treat officials, coaches and opponents with respect, which they did. I always thought that while Marissa did very well in tennis, she was a natural at soccer. Amanda, on the other hand, was very good at soccer, but was a natural at tennis.”
Amanda said her soccer memories come down to “we might not have won a lot, but it was still a lot of fun.”
She said while several on the team, including herself, had years of soccer experience, players also welcomed those who wanted to try the sport for the first time.
“Our team had a home for those people, too,” she said. “The games were always fun, but I feel like a lot of being on a team like that is the outside things you do together: the team dinners, the traveling on the bus, even practices.”
Her freshman year, the team advanced to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Girls Tennis Finals, finishing 19th.
Her senior year was a transition when several sports seasons were switched, putting girls soccer and tennis at the same time during the spring.
Person and the other three two-sport seniors juggled both.
“All of a sudden we were playing soccer and tennis in the spring,” she said. “Thankfully they let us do both, and our coaches were very good in terms (of) making sure nothing important overlapped.”
Person played doubles all four years and was at No. 1 with Kelly Drummond her final two seasons.
“If my memory serves me correctly, I believe we only lost two matches the whole (senior) year, so it was a good year for us,” she said.
It was a very good year.
She and Drummond won their Regional Final, but that ended her prep career since the team did not qualify for championship weekend.
Preparing for life
The best thing about high school tennis, she said, was that it was a combination team and individual sport.
“You can do really well individually and maybe the team doesn’t do well, or maybe the team does well and you don’t do well personally,” she said. “It has the aspect of wanting the entire team to do good.”
Competing in both sports prepared her for the “real” world, she said.
“Playing soccer and tennis and being part of a team helped me cheer other people on,” she said. “The world is a competitive place, so having that foundation of team sports is really good to teach a plethora of things you can use in the real world.
“Even at work, you have your individual job but you’re also part of a team. If one person isn’t doing well, then your whole team isn’t doing well. If someone else is having a hard time, helping them out is helping the team.”
She added that losing also teaches important lessons.
“You’re going to lose at things your entire life,” she said. “Being able to handle losing, handle rejection, is a good skill to have for anything in life. I’ve learned it’s not what happens to you but how you respond to it. That’s a huge lesson. There are a lot of life lessons you can get from playing team sports in high school.”
Her advice to high school athletes today: “Enjoy it, first of all. Don’t take it too seriously in wins and losses.
“When I look back, most of my core memories are being part of a team, having fun with the team, having fun playing the sport. Enjoy your time,” she said.
“Now I miss it.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Parchment’s Amanda Person plays a 2008 tennis match with doubles partner Kelly Drummond; at right, Person and her dog Tessa. (Middle) A pair of beloved trophies sit temporarily on Person’s desk at Purdue. (Below) Person also was a soccer standout at Parchment. (Photos courtesy of Amanda Person.)