D3 Soccer Final: Title Crusade Compete
June 16, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
WILLIAMSTON – Flint Powers Catholic attacked Hudsonville Unity Christian’s defense Saturday with a physicality and aggression the Crusaders had not seen this spring in assembling one of the best defensive seasons in MHSAA history.
They’d given up only six goals before the Chargers’ McKenzie Speer put through a shot 2:20 into the first half of their Division 3 championship game at Williamston High. And the Crusaders didn’t respond through the rest of the first half.
“My team was just so excited. We played a little frantic,” Unity Christian senior goalkeeper Holly VanNoord said. “We had to collect ourselves.”
Winning in June has been Unity Christian’s way for more than a decade. And this rematch of the 2011 Final went along with that recent dominance.
The Crusaders scored twice in the second half and held off a number of late Powers runs to claim a 2-1 win and their seventh championship in eight seasons after falling to the Chargers in last year’s title game.
“We just kinda opened our eyes and realized something had to change,” VanNoord said. “Coach just talked to us (at halftime and said) we gotta play together. I guess that was the main key. Once we got our heads on straight, we said we aren’t going to play to lose. We’re going to play to win.”
Unity Christian finished this season without a loss, at 23-0-4. The Crusaders' seven goals against was good to tie for 13th in the MHSAA record book and second only to their 2011 team among those that played 27 games. VanNoord had 20 shutouts, tying her for fourth on that single-season list after she set the MHSAA record with 24 last season.
Powers’ goal also was the first Unity Christian had given up this postseason. But VanNoord’s defense wasn’t the only stellar one on the field. Powers (20-2-4) also hadn’t given up a goal in the postseason until Crusaders sophomore Aubrey Schierbeek tied up the score 9:43 into the second half.
The teams then traded excellent scoring opportunities. Unity Christian freshman Bethany Balcer pushed a roller under diving Powers keeper Heather Rolls with 22:05 to play. But Chargers senior Jessica Adams swooped into the box and stopped the shot.
At 16:27 to play, VanNoord turned away a run. Then Rolls did the same with 15:54 to go.
Powers senior Amanda Bubnar fired a shot hard at the goal with 7:20 left, but VanNoord deflected it over the bar. Three minutes later, Schierbeek deflected a shot to the right of the net.
Freshman Casandra Besteman made all the work pay off with 3:52 to go, taking a throw-in and with a high left leg booted the ball in for the go-ahead goal.
“We have our style. We definitely have our three up top. We didn’t get to play our possession as much as we like to. (But) congratulations to them; they really played a good game,” Powers coach Art Moody said. “It could’ve gone either way. We were just hoping it was our way.”
The teams combined for 22 shots; Rolls saved six and VanNoord saved five.
Rolls finished this season with 19 shutouts, good to tie for seventh in the MHSAA record book for one season.
PHOTO: Unity Christian goalkeeper Holly VanNoord (in orange) goes high to make a save during Saturday's Division 3 Final at Williamston High.
GPN Gives Extraordinary Ending to Unimaginable Run with 1st Finals Title
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
June 16, 2023
EAST LANSING – Grosse Pointe North girls soccer coach Olivia Dallaire sent a special thank you to her co-workers at Grosse Pointe Beaumont Hospital Friday afternoon after her team claimed its first MHSAA Finals title at DeMartin Stadium.
“I played four years here on this field (at Michigan State) and four years as a player at Grosse Pointe North,’’ Dallaire said. “I’m very speechless. I’m at a loss for words. I couldn’t get it done as a senior in the state championship game. I’m so proud of these girls that they were able to bring it home.
“I did have to go to work today,” the nurse anesthetist added, “but my co-workers allowed me to work half a shift and covered for me.’’
The Norsemen earned a 3-2 edge in a shootout to clinch a 3-2 win over East Grand Rapids in the Division 2 championship game. After winning just one game in the Macomb Area Conference Red this spring and entering the postseason with four victories total, the Norsemen capped their first championship run at 10-7-7 – proving it’s good to get hot at the right time.
The winning kick in the shootout came from senior Mia Stephanoff. Goalkeeper Grace McCormick did the rest, stopping two shots by EGR with another flying over the goal.
“I always pick the same side because I practice it every day,’’ said Stephanoff. “I know I’m good at it and I know I can make it, even when they guess right, which she did. When I saw her I said ‘Oh God.’
North was down 2-0, but Dallaire changed the offense in the second half and McCormick was phenomenal in goal.
“We’ve been down 2-0 before,’’ said Stephanoff. “In our Regional Semifinal against (Bloomfield Hills) Marian we were down 2-0. It wasn’t really that big. We knew we could come back.’’
East Grand Rapids twins Gracie and Reese Lynn are freshmen and destined to be stars. They scored the first two goals for the Pioneers to stake them to a 2-0 lead.
East Grand Rapids (18-3-3) was seeking its first championship since 2002 and finished third in the Ottawa-Kent Conference White this spring, while Grosse Pointe North was fifth in the MAC Red and had finished Division 1 runner-up in 2008 when Dallaire was a junior.
On cue, the Lynn sisters combined for the first goal of the game just less than 11 minutes in when Gracie took a pass from Reese and blasted a shot from 19 yards out into the right-side corner of the net.
After being dragged down by a Norsemen defender, Reese was granted a penalty kick. She didn’t disappoint as she drilled the shot to make it 2-0 after 13 minutes.
GPN responded when freshman Meredith Dodenhoff scored off an assist from junior midfielder Amelia Streberger from just outside the box with 15:10 left in the first half to make it 2-1.
The Norsemen then tied the score with just under 15 minutes left in regulation when Alyssa Burney’s corner kick was mishandled and bounced into the net for an own goal.
Neither team scored over 20 minutes over overtime, although EGR got close during the second half of the extra period when Margaret Periard had a shot that drifted just right of the net.
Gabby Miller followed an opening shootout miss by EGR by sending her shot into the net. Reese Lynn tied the shootout 1-1, and the Pioneers went up 2-1 on Toki Budelmann’s make. But Streberger tied it at 2-2, and Stephanoff decided it on GPN’s next kick.
There was added history to the Norseman’s first title. Since at least 1991 – the farthest back published results include team records – no girls soccer team had advanced to an MHSAA Final with fewer than 10 wins until GPN and Clarkston Everest Collegiate in Division 4 both did so this week.
“This means so much to me and my team,’’ said McCormick. “This whole year we’ve been the underdog. We worked so hard. So many players have improved. It’s been a really great season. We did the same thing against Marian. I loved that we didn’t give up.’’
PHOTOS (Top) Grosse Pointe North keeper Grace McCormick dives to her right to make the game-clinching save Friday. (Middle) East Grand Rapids’ Reese Lynn (16) and North’s Amelia Streberger battle for possession. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)