Mona Shores Sails Through Historic Run
June 7, 2017
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
PORTAGE – The end is never easy, especially when it’s a team’s first taste of defeat – and especially when it appeared, for almost three quarters of the game, that a monumental upset was in the works.
There were plenty of tears Tuesday as Muskegon Mona Shores saw its 1-0 lead, and its perfect season, come unraveled as No. 1-ranked Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central scored three goals over an 8-minute stretch midway through the second half of a 4-1 victory in the Division 1 Regional Semifinals at Portage Central.
“We just ran out of gas,” explained first-year Mona Shores coach Dylan Darga, whose team finished 21-1. “We took the top-ranked team in the state deep into the second half. You always want one more win, but what we accomplished this season was pretty incredible.”
Top-ranked Forest Hills Central advanced to Friday’s 6 p.m. Regional championship game at Portage Central against No. 2 Brighton, which downed host Portage Central 3-1 in Tuesday’s first Semifinal game.
And perhaps Mona Shores’ dream season ended at the appropriate time.
For one thing, Darga can now focus 100 percent on his wedding this weekend.
Darga, a 3rd-grade teacher at Marquette Elementary School in the Muskegon Public School District, is getting married Saturday and his rehearsal dinner is Friday night – which would have been in direct conflict with the Regional championship game.
When Darga made his wedding plans last summer, he had no idea he would be coaching varsity soccer. Darga previously coached the junior varsity girls team at Muskegon Reeths-Puffer before taking the Mona Shores varsity job in February.
“We had some plans in place for Friday night if it came to that,” said Darga, who is assisted on the varsity by Scott White and also junior varsity coach Ashley Moblo. “I have a couple of very good assistant coaches, and they would have done a great job. It would have been strange for me not to be there with them.”
The timing of the loss provided the Shores players, coaches and fans with several nice trophies, as champions of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Black and their Division 1 District, while also whetting their appetites for next season. Mona Shores, which graduates just three seniors, should now have plenty of motivation heading into the 2018 season – which was the year everyone was targeting as the Sailors’ breakout year on the statewide stage, anyway.
Mona Shores just decided to get the party started one year early, putting together the first undefeated regular season in school history and their first District championship since 2007 with a 3-1 win over rival Grand Haven on Saturday.
Along the way, there were individual school records falling left and right – all by underclassmen.
Sarah Mikesell, a junior forward, already has the school record with 73 career goals (including 40 goals this season) with her senior season still to come. Sophomore Raegan Cox, a dynamic playmaker who has already verbally committed to sign with the University of Arkansas, set another school record with 31 assists. In goal, junior Megan Swanker recorded a school-best 15 shutouts – and did not allow a single goal in May until the opening game of the District tournament.
While those three have garnered the lion’s share of headlines this season, sophomore Nora Brown and junior Peyton Erndteman also were key cogs in the offensive attack.
But Darga singled out the play of his four starting defenders as a key reason Shores was able to rise to No. 3 in the final state rankings entering tournament play. Junior stopper Mal Meston was the ringleader of that defense, which also included senior Isabel Grace (the team’s lone senior starter), sophomore Erin Powers and freshman Alexa Musk.
“Those four are really the unsung heroes of our whole operation,” said Darga, a 2004 Fruitport High School graduate and soccer standout. “As a former defenseman myself, I tell them all the time how important they are. If you never allow a goal, you will never lose a soccer game.”
In addition to Grace, the other seniors on the roster were McKenna Matthews and Haley Gartland.
Even after taking the Mona Shores varsity job in February, Darga had little reason to believe there was going to be a potential conflict between his wedding and Regional tournament games.
Mona Shores had not won a District title in 10 years, and with just three seniors, it appeared the program’s breakthrough season would be another year away.
“Honestly, when I looked at the first six games of our season, I could see a scenario where we would be 4-2 or even 3-3 coming out of those games,” said Darga, pointing out early games against Holland West Ottawa, Grand Haven and Spring Lake. “So when we were 6-0, I knew we had something special going.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Muskegon Mona Shores junior forward Sarah Mikesell, right, battles for possession of the ball during the Sailors' 3-1 victory over Grand Haven in the Division 1 District Final on June 3. Mikesell scored 40 goals this season and has 73 goals for her career. (Middle) First-year Muskegon Mona Shores soccer coach Dylan Darga reacts to the play during the Sailors' win over Grand Haven. Darga led Mona Shores to a 21-1 record in his first season as coach. (Photos by Tim Reilly.)
Marian's Latest Title Run Familiar & New
June 14, 2019
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – For all the success the Bloomfield Hills Marian soccer team has enjoyed over the last two decades, the 2019 Division 2 Final offered the Mustangs a chance to achieve two things for the first time.
One, Marian won three consecutive championships for the first time in school history with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern. All three of those titles have come via victories over Forest Hills Northern in the title game.
Second, Michigan State University’s DeMartin Stadium provided a new venue for Marian to win its eighth title since 2003. Marian had won its titles in Richland, Grand Rapids, Troy and Williamston, but never had appeared in a Final held at MSU.
“The last time we won two in a row, we got knocked out on the first night (of the playoffs),” Marian head coach Barry Brodsky said. “We did let them know that there has only been two Marian players since I’ve been here that have won three state championships, and they weren’t in a row. Now, we have seven or eight who have just joined those two.”
The game-winner came with 4:18 remaining in the second period of overtime, off Marian’s 12th corner kick of the game.
Marian senior Sara Stroud delivered the ball into the box, and amidst a flurry of bodies, sophomore Maria Askounis put the ball into the net to make it 2-1 Marian.
“My coaches told me to stay at the far post, and so I stayed on the far post,” Askounis said. “That’s where the ball went, and I just tapped it in. I scored last game, but not like this in the state championship. It feels amazing.”
The Mustangs were frustrated at not being able to convert any of their previous 11 corner kicks in the contest, but ultimately it was a corner kick that was good to Marian again.
Brodsky said game-winning goals in the Catholic League final and in a 1-0 District win over Detroit Country Day also came on corner kicks.
“It’s not a secret,” Brodsky said. “You play great defense and you do great on restarts, you’re going to win a lot of games.”
Marian also won despite having to play the late stages of the game without all-state Dream Team forward Jansen Eichenlaub, who will play next at University of Virginia.
Eichenlaub suffered a hamstring injury with 18 minutes left in regulation and didn’t return.
It was more heartache for Forest Hills Northern, which has frustration that stretches beyond losing to Marian three straight years in the Final.
The Huskies lost for the fourth straight time in the championship game and fifth time since 2010.
Forest Hills Northern lost in the 2016 title game to Pontiac Notre Dame Prep and in the 2010 Final to Marian as well.
If there is a silver lining for the Huskies, it’s that they will graduate just two seniors.
“If we didn’t come out and play good, I would be more upset about it,” Forest Hills Northern head coach Daniel Siminski said. “It was a pretty even game I thought, which was a far cry (from) two years ago. We are getting there.”
Forest Hills Northern took a 1-0 lead with 34:21 left in the first half on a goal by sophomore Grace Sayers, who took a beautiful lead pass along the ground from junior Alyssa Greshak in the box and buried the chance inside the far post.
Marian tied the game 1-1 with 35:57 left on a goal by sophomore Emily Rassel, who pounced on a loose ball in the box and placed a shot underneath the crossbar.
Eichenlaub flicked a pass into the box to Rassel after senior Katie Sullivan placed a cross toward Eichenlaub.
Marian carried the play in overtime and had a glorious chance with six minutes left in the first extra period when two Mustangs players broke in all alone on Forest Hills Northern goalie Parker Hutchinson, who made an initial save.
But the ball ricocheted to another Marian player, who shot the ball wide with nothing but the goal in front of her.
Ultimately though, Marian got the winning goal it needed, and added more history to its already storied program.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marian hoists the championship trophy after Saturday's Division 2 Final win over Forest Hills Northern. (Middle) Megan Kraus gathers a shot for the Mustangs.