Elk Rapids Avenges, Adds to Perfection
June 7, 2016
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
ELK RAPIDS – For the seniors, Elk Rapids’ 8-0 District championship win over Leland on Saturday was overdue.
“Three years overdue,” senior outside midfielder Nicole Hill said.
After losing in the District Finals three consecutive years, the unbeaten Elks broke through in convincing fashion, outscoring their three District foes by a combined 24-1 to advance to Wednesday’s MHSAA Division 4 Regional in Mount Pleasant.
“We knew we had a stronger team this year and that we could do it,” senior forward Carley Patterson said. “We dominated.”
Dominated is the appropriate word as Elk Rapids kicked it up a gear in improving to 21-0. Just a week earlier, the Elks became the first soccer team in school history – boys or girls – to finish the regular season unbeaten. That’s noteworthy, considering the boys won back-to-back Division 4 titles in 1997-98 and finished runner-up in 1989, 1995 and 1996.
“It’s a great accomplishment, but it also makes us a huge target,” girls coach Andrea Krakow said.
Elk Rapids is ranked No. 2 in the coaches’ association poll heading into its Regional opener with Ravenna. If the Elks had any doubters, they’ve been silenced.
“They’re getting their due now,” Suttons Bay coach Tom Spencer said. “I don’t think they got a lot of recognition early. I had my doubts until I saw them play (an 8-0 Elks win in mid-May). They’re the best team we played this season.
“They play solid, sound soccer. They’ve got talent everywhere. Tough backline, great attack and they move the ball all over the field. They all touch the ball and they all come at you – and keep it away from their goal.”
Need proof? The Elks have scored 115 goals and surrendered 11.
“We all work together as a team,” Patterson said. “We’re all really good friends, not just on the field, but off, too.”
“Our team is really connected,” Hill added.
It’s made for an enjoyable season for Krakow, now in her 10th year as head coach.
“This is the most talented team I’ve had,” she said. “What I like is that every girl on this team wants to be here playing soccer. Nothing else. When they show up at practice it’s like, ‘What can we do to get better?’
“Even the girls that may not get as much field time are out there supporting the others. They all share a common goal. They want to succeed.”
The Elks have won 19 of their 21 games by two or more goals. And they’ve accomplished that run facing a perennially-tough Lake Michigan Conference schedule, plus a nonleague slate that included games against three teams from the Big North Conference.
“We’ve proven ourselves,” Patterson said.
One Lake Michigan foe, Harbor Springs, is in the Regional, too. The Elks posted 3-1 and 4-3 victories over the Rams.
Krakow returned 10 players off a team that went 15-5-1 last season. She added five talented freshmen and German exchange student Friedi Hicking.
“I thought we would have a strong team, adding the incoming freshmen (to the mix),” Krakow said. “We’ve been competitive every year. We just haven’t been at the top.”
In Saturday’s District title win, the Elks limited Leland to one shot. The Comets featured the state’s all-time leading scorer in Libby Munoz.
It was a “revenge” win for Elk Rapids. Leland beat the Elks 2-1 in last year’s District Final. The two teams met earlier this season with Elk Rapids posting a 6-1 win.
“We knew we were the better team coming in, and the score showed it,” Hill said.
The 8-0 decision was the 13th shutout for the Elks, who have given up only 76 shots on goal all season.
The defense includes the Wagner sisters, Alexa and Cailey. Alexa is a senior goalie who is in her second year in the program. A three-sport athlete, she previously played softball in the spring. Cailey, a junior sweeper, is a three-year starter and the “voice” on the back line.
“She directs our defense,” Krakow said.
Freshmen Kendall Brown, Kyla Pryde and Natalie Graf are instrumental, too. Brown and Pryde play on the outside where they can use their quickness to get to the ball. On Saturday, Krakow put Graf at the top of the defense to mark Munoz.
“She normally plays outside mid, but when we have an offensive threat against us we’ll put her in that man-to-man role,” Krakow said. “She’s able to anticipate, deny the ball. We held Libby to no goals twice, so that says a lot about (Graf’s) play.”
Heather Brothers normally plays at the top of the diamond defensively, but the sophomore moved to center midfield Saturday. She’s a two-year starter.
On the attack, the Elks are led by Patterson, the girls program’s all-time leading scorer. She had three goals and an assist Saturday to raise her season totals to 42 goals and 15 assists. For her career, the senior has tallied 106 goals with close to 50 assists.
“She has a nose for the ball,” Krakow said. “She has a great shot and is a good distributor. She plays team ball. She’s very unselfish.”
Hill is the second-leading scorer with 14 goals and 16 assists. Sophomore Nikki Hayes is right behind with 15 goals and 12 assists, although she sprained an ankle Saturday.
In addition, sophomore Clare Klein is a quick, offensive-minded center midfielder, who netted two goals in the District clincher. Senior Jordan McNamara and Hicking are threats as well.
“When she gets her foot on the ball, it’s like a rocket,” Krakow said of Hicking. “We tease her because she’s never taken a left-footed shot during a game and will always try to put the ball on her right. (Saturday night) she took a left-footed shot and nailed it.”
Much like Elk Rapids has nailed this season.
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: The Elk Rapids girls soccer team poses with its Division 4 District championship trophy Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Tammy Hill.)
Longtime Cheboygan Coach Stormzand Continues Giving to Game as Official
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
April 10, 2023
Twenty-five years ago, Cheboygan girls soccer started by storm.
Actually, “Stormy” is more accurate.
As another girls soccer season gets rolling across Northern Michigan this month, the pitch will frequently experience a storm, er Stormy, again.
Stormy is Mark Stormzand, and he may be joined often by his regular referee partner, Alan Granger. Stormzand, one of many members in his family nicknamed Stormy, got the Chiefs girls soccer program started in 1997 after one year as a club. At the time, he was also an assistant coach on the school’s boys team.
His career included 217 total victories, seven District titles, six conference titles, and eight players who went on to play college soccer. He spent two seasons assisting the boys.
But he started another career in 1999. He became a soccer referee. He is still doing it today, which is why the Chiefs definitely will see him on their home field or somewhere else nearby this season.
Like many officials, Stormzand started using the whistle because he really just wanted to be a part of the game.
“I started with just boys soccer because I was coaching the girls,” Stormzand recalled. “I just wanted to be part of the game when I wasn’t coaching.
“I love being around young athletes,” he continued. “And, I enjoy helping.”
Now at 69 years young, Stormzand plans to stay with officiating as long as most officials try.
“Like all of us, until my body won’t,” he says of his when he’ll leave the pitch. “Every year I keep thinking I am surprised I am still doing this.”
Stormzand is glad he started officiating. It has helped fill a void after coaching. It also helped fill a void in his personal life.
In 2015, his wife Gail died after battling breast cancer.
“We had been together since we were 15 years old,” said Stormy. “She was inspirational for my coaching … my kids loved her, and she was always a part of our team.”
Stormzand noted he’s had many great players and great teams over the years — all of which he credits with teaching him more than he taught — but the team from the spring of 2015 is at the top of the list. His wife’s passing came two months before the start of practice.
That team filled the greatest void in his life.
“I kept telling myself if I could make it to soccer season, I can make it,” Stormzand recalled. “They were my life ring by a long shot.
“The team that year was unbelievable with their sensitivity and concern and respect,” he continued. “I was just awestruck of how mature this group of 20 girls were dealing with me and my situation. … I will never forget them.”
Stormzand went on to coach the girls team three more springs as he officiated boys in the fall. He remarried in September of 2018, right after giving up the helm of the program he started.
“It was a dark day for Cheboygan girls soccer when Mark resigned,” said Jason Friday, Cheboygan’s athletic director. “He was one-of-a-kind.
“He just had a way of making every player, no matter what role they had, feel special,” Friday went on. “Year after year, the team chemistry and camaraderie was second to none.”
Stormzand also retired from 45 years in the forestry business. He’s seen a lot of changes in high school soccer, and he admits he picked up things officiating that made him a better coach.
“When I ref’d, I’d see stuff other coaches did and I’d incorporate that into my thinking and coaching,” he said. “Ref’ing made me a better coach, and coaching me a better ref.”
Among his favorite places to referee now are Cheboygan and Mackinac Island. He and Granger have taken the ferry to Mackinac Island for Friday evening and Saturday morning contests for about 10 years.
They’ve enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the Islanders on the pitch as well as the visiting team’s players. Many teams have middle schoolers on the roster, allowing the teams, coaches and referees to become more familiar with each other than they would during just the high school years.
Stormzand and Granger love the spirit of the game on the Island, especially when rivals are in town. Most all the games feature co-ed squads.
“It’s all the positive parts of sports,” Stormy said. “It is just fun — pure sport.
“You can learn the kids’ names, and you’re with them for six years and all their brothers and sisters,” he said. “It’s a very fun community place to ref, especially on a Friday night when they’re playing rivals like Beaver Island.”
Stormy admits he has enjoyed coaching more than officiating so far. But he doesn’t miss sitting on the sidelines in less-than-desirable spring weather. He recalls one season of wearing a raincoat for every match until the District Final.
Running on the pitch helps deal with the difficult weather. He’s seen many officials, players and coaches struggle with the weather conditions, especially when the Chiefs occasionally played at the Coast Guard Cutter Station field.
“We would play there periodically because the high school field had too much snow on it,” he said. “The Straits (of Mackinac) would still be frozen, and you’d have this mist coming off the Straits.
‘Some teams would show up without warmups, and it would be like 32 degrees and cold fog.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Mark Stormzand talks things over with his 2017 team during his time leading the Cheboygan girls soccer program. (Middle) Stormzand, now with more than two decades as an official. (Below) The 2015 team always will hold a place close to Stormzand’s heart. (Top photo courtesy of the Cheboygan Daily Tribune; middle and below photos submitted by Mark Stormzand.)