Moment: Central Wins Big for West Michigan
May 4, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Winning the 2009 Division 1 championship was a major accomplishment – of course – for the Portage Central girls soccer program.
But it made a pretty loud statement as well for all of girls soccer on the west side of the state.
While teams from the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo areas had dominated Divisions 3 and 4, and had nice success as well in Division 2 and the former Class B (before the sport went to divisions in 1998), no team from the state’s west side had won the Class or Division of the state’s largest schools since girls soccer became an MHSAA tournament sport in 1983.
Portage Central became the first in 2009 by completing a 27-0-2 run. Shannon Bennett’s header off Taylore Peterson’s corner kick 39 seconds into overtime gave the Mustangs a 3-2 win over Utica Eisenhower in the Final.
To that point, 24 of the first 26 girls soccer championships in Division 1, Class A or the open class (from 1983-86) had been won by schools from Metro Detroit. The other two were won by Saginaw Heritage in 2002 and Ann Arbor Huron in 2008.
The 2009 championship was the second for Portage Central – it previously had won Division 2 in 2000. Bennett went on to play at Robert Morris University, and Peterson played at Illinois.
Click for coverage of the 2009 Final from the Kalamazoo Gazette and watch the winner below from the MHSAA Network.
Scoreboard: AAGR wins at Williamston
May 3, 2012
Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard emerged from a exceptional field including some of the highest-ranked soccer teams from Division 2 and 3 on Saturday at the Williamston Invitational.
The Fighting Irish, ranked No. 6 in Division 3, beat the No. 3 Hornets in a shootout in the championship game after advancing with a 1-0 win over No. 8 Detroit Country Day and a shootout victory over top-ranked Flint Powers Catholic.
Williamston downed honorable mention Frankenmuth 2-0 and then Division 2 No. 5 Plainwell 4-0 to advance to the final. Plainwell was No. 1 in its division in last week's state coaches poll.
Powers also beat Plainwell during the tournament, 4-2.
Click here for Second Half's preview of the event, which focused on the host Hornets' loaded schedule this spring. Below are the scores of all nine games from the event:
Championship game: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard 0, Williamston 0; AAGR wins in shootout
Williamston 2, Frankenmuth 0
Williamston 4, Plainwell 0
AAGR 0, Flint Powers, 0; AAGR wins in shootout
AAGR 1, Detroit Country Day 0
Flint Powers 3, Detroit Country Day 1
Flint Powers 4, Plainwell 2
Plainwell 4, Frankenmuth 0
Frankenmuth 0, DCD 0; Frankenmuth wins in shootout
PHOTO: Gabriel Richard's Alexis Warner (23) works for possession against Williamston's Amanda Dimmer (12) during Saturday's Williamston Invitational championship game. (Photo courtesy of Bonnie Putnam and Williamston soccer.)