Fairy-tale Finish Fits Notre Dame Prep Fine
June 18, 2016
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Pontiac Notre Dame Prep senior midfielder Rosella LoChirco called her team’s victory Saturday in the MHSAA Division 2 girls soccer championship game “a Cinderella story.”
It’s doubtful that Cinderella would put up any sort of dispute.
Notre Dame Prep won its first MHSAA girls soccer championship with a 2-1 victory in an amazing eight-shot shootout with Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern at DeMartin Stadium on the campus of Michigan State University.
A team doesn’t normally win an MHSAA Finals championship by having a player score her first goal of the season to tie the game with less than a minute to go in regulation. If that is not enough of a “Cinderella story,” the best is yet to come.
Notre Dame Prep went to a sweeper to use as the goalkeeper in the shootout, a player who had not played in goal at any level in two years.
Junior Eileen Haig made two saves and two other Forest Hills Northern shots were off-target. Then, the winning goal in the eighth round of the shootout came from LoChirco, who buried the ball into the left side of the net to give her team a deciding 5-4 edge and set off a wild celebration.
After 100 minutes of game action and seven rounds of a shootout, a banged-up LoChirco ran to her spot in front of the net to take the shot.
“After we went back and forth so much, I was just ready to get it in the net and end the game,” LoChirco said. “I was a little apprehensive because I felt some muscle pulls during the game, so I was kind of nervous, but I saw a big, open spot in the net, and once it went in, it was craziness, jumping around and being happy.”
Forest Hills Northern had a chance to win it in the seventh shootout round, but senior Morgan O’Neill kept her team alive by beating the Forest Hills Northern goalkeeper to the left side.
As Payton Williams, Olivia Mears, Stephanie Maniaci, O’Neill and LoChirco were scoring for the Fighting Irish, Haig was doing her best in net against the Huskies. She made a save on the first shot of the shootout, and she said that helped her feel comfortable.
“It was amazing,” Haig said. “I could tell which way she was going, and I got some tips before I went in.”
Notre Dame Prep (21-1-3) used Haley Williams in goal during regulation and the two 10-minute overtime sessions. However, the plan all along was to pull her in the event of a shootout, a situation that coach Jim Stachura did not want.
“We didn’t want to get to that point,” he said. “We were pressing with three and four and only two in the back to press in the second overtime. We did everything we needed to do except put the ball in the back of the net more consistently. Their keeper had a whole lot to do with that.”
The original plan was to play freshman Morgan Verheyen in the net, but she was in Florida for an AAU volleyball tournament. That left Stachura and his staff guessing what to do in the shootout. He did not want to use Williams in goal because of a lack of experience in such situations.
“Eileen plays a high level in club soccer, and I think that settles the nerves,” Stachura said. “This is Haley’s first year as a starter, and sometimes you have to go with an instinct, and our gut instinct was to put Eileen in for that.”
Goalkeeper coach Ryan Tadajewski told Haig about the potential move at the end of regulation.
“He put the idea in my head, and it went out of my head in overtime,” Haig said. “I used to play in goal for my club team but stopped a couple of years ago. I knew I had to do it, and once I got in there it was complete calm.”
“I knew I could save some of them even though I hadn’t been in net in a while. I’m good at jumping and guessing.”
The shootout would not have happened without the late heroics of Payton Williams, a junior defender who scored her first goal of the season on a free kick with 41 seconds left in regulation and the Fighting Irish trailing 1-0. The free kick was set up by a hand ball by the Huskies.
As Williams prepared to take her shot from the far right spot near the top of the box, the left side of the goal was left open. Williams spotted it and drilled it into the open net.
“Payton stepped in and, with ice in her veins, she buried it,” Stachura said. “It was a great strike. As long as she had it on frame, I thought she’d have a good shot at it, and she absolutely buried it. It was a phenomenal strike, and it was nice to see it bulge in the back of the net.”
For Williams, the moment was something she never could have imagined.
“It was a great feeling, especially considering that it was my first goal and it came in the state championship game,” she said. “I saw that side was open, so I just kind of went for it. It was amazing to know that as time was winding down that we came back and did it.”
Notre Dame Prep controlled the play for the most part, but junior Natalie Belsito gave Forest Hills Northern a 1-0 lead in the 46th minute when she was able to control a bouncing ball in front of the net and direct it into the goal.
The Fighting Irish had a 16-8 edge in shots and a 12-2 advantage on corner kicks, but if not for that late free kick by Payton Williams, the Huskies might have won their first MHSAA championship. And they would have had their own “Cinderella story” as they only had one senior, were unranked and did not win their conference.
“I’m proud of them,” said Forest Hills Northern coach Daniel Siminski, whose team finished 16-4-4. “It’s a really big field, and it was really hot, and Notre Dame carried most of the play. We did a good job of keeping it tight. It was 41 seconds, so what can you say? It’s soccer.
“You can’t blame anyone. Not everybody gets to be here, and you flip a coin in a shootout. If I had a chance to do it again, I’d do it again. It’s difficult to get here, and we were unranked all season, so for the girls to get here is amazing. Nobody would have gambled on us.”
Junior Amanda Young, the Forest Hills Northern goalkeeper, kept her team in the game with seven saves, and a few of them were sensational.
“Two saves really stand out,” Stachura said. “On one of them, Celia Gaynor got in six yards out, and Young made a kick save with her foot. Another one was one that squirted out from eight yards out, and she got her hand on it and kept it out.
“If either of those goals go in, it’s a different game. Give credit to them. Penalty kicks is never a great way to lose, but when you’re on the winning side, it’s a lot of fun.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Notre Dame Prep players celebrate the game-tying goal by Payton Williams (19). (Middle) Eileen Haig, normally a sweeper for the Fighting Irish, moved into net for the shootout.
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.)