Moment: VanDyke Wins Race to End Title Chase

May 7, 2020

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Maddy VanDyke already was known to be one of the state’s top soccer players – after graduating from Hudsonville Unity Christian, she went on to start most of four seasons for Michigan State.

But she also showed at the end of her last MHSAA Final to be quite a sprinter.

VanDyke picked up an incredibly-placed pass from Bethany Balcer and raced half the field and past two Detroit Country Day defenders to send home the overtime game-winner in the Division 3 Final on June 12, 2015, to give Unity a 2-1 win.

Country Day had scored the game’s first goal 18 minutes in and led until Unity evened things up with 17 minutes to play in regulation.

With just more than four minutes left in overtime, VanDyke picked up Balcer’s long pass just past midfield. She pushed her winning shot past a deflection by Country Day keeper Isabel Nino, who made the record book with 13 saves that game after also making 13 when the teams met in the 2014 Final, also a Unity win. Nino went on to play at University of Michigan.

Click for coverage from Second Half and see below for the game winner from the NFHS Network.

Be the Referee: Soccer Disallowed Goal

By Sam Davis
MHSAA Director of Officials

October 21, 2021

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Soccer Disallowed Goal - Listen

A soccer team is racing towards the opponent’s goal, and after a couple of nice passes, they find the back of the net for a one-nothing lead.

As soon as the goal celebration starts, the coach of the team that scored excitedly motions for one of his players to come off the field. The assistant referee sees and hears this and counts the number of players on the field – and he realizes that the scoring team had 12 players on the field at the time of the goal. What’s the call?

The referee should disallow the goal because there were too many players on the field, and re-start the game with a goal kick by the team that was scored on. The extra player on the field receives a yellow card, and the score is back to 0-0 … or nil-nil.

Previous editions

Sept 30: Field Goal Falls Short - Listen
Sept. 23: Volleyball Obstruction - Listen
Sept. 16: Catch or No Catch Listen
Sept. 9: Intentional Grounding – Listen 
Sept. 2: Pass Interference – Listen 
Aug. 26: Protocols and Mechanics  Listen