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Marian Continues D2 Dominance with 4th-Straight Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
June 18, 2021
EAST LANSING – Olivia DeConinck had a feeling Friday after she strode from her defensive position to join the Bloomfield Hills Marian attack on a corner kick.
The Mustangs senior and Bucknell soccer signee didn’t make the run she typically would for a header, and that left her in perfect position to score the goal that put her team on track for a fourth-straight MHSAA Division 2 Girls Soccer Finals title.
“I guess it was just instinct,” she said. “I’m not really sure, my body just kind of took over. I knew someone needed to be there, so I got there.”
Marian’s 3-0 victory gave the program its ninth title overall, as its hold on Division 2 soccer in the state has lasted since 2017 and even spanned a canceled season. This year’s team finished 13-3-1 and did not allow a goal throughout the postseason, outscoring its opponents 26-0 over six matches.
“We win because we have really good players,” Marian coach Barry Brodsky said. “They’re smart. They’re in the classroom very smart, and that makes coaching a pleasure.”
DeConinck’s instinctive play didn’t lead to the winning goal, nor did it come late enough in the game to be considered a game-sealer. But in making the score 2-0 early in the second half, it may have been the goal that took the most wind out of a Spring Lake team that felt very in the game up until that point.
When Marian freshman Elle Ervin extended the lead to 3-0 just 2 minutes, 30 seconds later, that became even more clear.
“I think the 1-0 lead, it still kind of got in their heads that they were just one goal away, one opportunity away from tying it up and getting back in the game,” DeConinck said. “I think once we put that second in there, we kind of proved our dominance and it lifted our spirits up.”
The goal came on what DeConinck described as a shot, but one she hoped one of her teammates could finish. She floated the ball to the opposite post, and it made its way into the net on its own. The official and the linesman conferred after the goal to make sure an offside Marian player had not had an impact on the play, and decided the goal stood.
“She’s been a full-time player since her freshman year, she’s going to Bucknell to play – she's a stud,” Brodsky said. “You get some studs on your team and you’re going to have a good team, and she’s one of them. She won’t like me saying it, but her two sisters before her were the same. I’ve had a DeConinck on the team since 2014, and this was the last one. They’re special. She’s a stud player, and a stud athlete, and a stud student, and a stud person.”
Ervin opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game, finishing after a goalmouth scramble. She had another chance midway through the first half, as she was left alone in the box for a header, but Spring Lake keeper Jessica Stewart was there to make the save.
Ervin, a freshman, was the team’s leading scorer on the season with 24 goals, and she’s one of 17 players who could return next season. So, while the Mustangs will graduate seven senior starters, there’s plenty of firepower remaining.
“Coming in at the very beginning, I did not know what to expect,” Ervin said. “I just knew we had a lot of people coming back with these seniors who had won two championships already, and I didn’t know what role I was going to play. Right when I came in, all of them were so accepting, and I was like, ‘Whoa, I am totally part of this team.’ We had our first couple games, and I realized I had to play a big role. I had to step up, even as a freshman.”
Spring Lake (15-4-2), which was making its first Finals appearance, had its own opportunities in the half, mostly off the foot of junior forward Meah Bajt. She powered one off the crossbar not long after Ervin’s goal and created her own breakaway chance near the midpoint of the half, but her shot spun wide of the Marian net.
The second half, however, was all Marian, as Mustangs keeper Izabel Toma had to make just one save in the game, and it came in the first half. Spring Lake’s Stewart, meanwhile, made eight stops.
“It was a crazy, crazy ride,” Spring Lake coach Becky May said. “I just threw a bunch of kids out there – they were in middle school last year – and now they’re playing on this big stage. You could just tell they were young, and there were mistakes made that were young mistakes, and we’ll work on them. But they have a ton of heart, and we got farther than anybody ever thought we would.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Marian's Emily Rassel (17) considers her next move Friday while Spring Lake's Ryann Gilchrist defends. (Middle) The Mustangs' Elle Ervin (10) winds up for a shot with the Lakers' Kate Lewkowski (17) in pursuit.
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Gull Lake Returns to State's Elite
June 15, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
WILLIAMSTON – Can one save change a soccer season?
It certainly can alter a championship game, as junior Maggie Harma and Richland Gull Lake found out Saturday afternoon in Williamston.
Bloomfield Hills Marian fired 27 shots during the double-overtime MHSAA Division 2 Final. Harma, the keeper, had to save 13.
But the shot she stopped 30 seconds into the 100-minute game might’ve saved the Blue Devils’ first championship run since 1992, one they finished with a 1-0 victory over the reigning champion Mustangs.
“If it had gone in, our team would’ve been down the whole game trying to come back,” Harma said. “Because I saved it, it kinda gave us the little push we needed: We are here, we deserve to be here, we’re not here by luck. We’re here because we’re good, and we can win this.”
Gull Lake (21-1-1) was a Finals regular during the 1990s. But the current players were either still figuring out how to run or maybe even how to walk when the Blue Devils played in their most recent championship game in 1999.
Marian’s story is nearly the opposite. The Mustangs (17-3-4) have won five titles over the last 11 seasons, including three of the last five in Division 2.
Gull Lake second-year coach Jeff Corstange was plenty familiar with his program’s previous success, having graduated from the school in 1996.
“That’s one of the things when I came into this coaching role two years ago; I knew what it took to get there,” Corstange said. “These girls were young. They didn’t really know what it was. But I wanted to bring excitement back to Gull Lake.
“The whole community supported us tonight, and they get energy off of that.”
Harma admitted her team was a bit intimidated when Marian first arrived Saturday. But Corstange had emphasized to his players that they deserved to be in the Final, and the numbers said the same.
Gull Lake entered the postseason ranked No. 3, just one spot behind Marian. The Blue Devils gave up only eight goals this season – and including Saturday, not one during the MHSAA tournament.
“It starts with their keeper. She’s a really good keeper. And the four in the back are really good,” Marian coach Barry Brodsky said. “Just for whatever reason, we couldn’t get that last little inch it takes to get it into the goal. I thought we were going to get it the first 30 seconds of the game. Sometimes when you don’t get that goal you think you should, that’s the game right there.”
Gull Lake didn’t get its goal until 3:56 into the first overtime. Sophomore forward Amanda Pavletic, who had 15 goals this season although she wasn’t a starter, found the back of the net and sent the Blue Devils’ supporters into a frenzy.
Like it had in a 1-0 overtime Semifinal win over Spring Lake in the Semifinal, Gull Lake’s defense held strong over the final 16 minutes to secure the win.
“We worked really hard in the preseason, and we knew what we were capable of doing this year,” Corstange said. “All that hard work and determination ... this goes to show we can battle with anybody, being a small school. We welcome the battle. We have a lot of talent out there.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Gull Lake freshman Kenzie Harney (11) battles with a Bloomfield Hills Marian player for possession during Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Marian sophomore Kelly Sweeney (11) pushes the ball past the outstretched foot of Gull Lake’s Olivia Sullivan. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)