Performance: Gull Lake's Reagan Wisser
May 17, 2018
Reagan Wisser
Richland Gull Lake junior – Soccer
The Blue Devils’ all-state forward helped deliver her team a league title and a little bit of vengeance May 9, scoring two goals in Gull Lake’s 3-0 win over Portage Central that clinched the regular-season Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference championship and earned Wisser the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.” Wisser then scored two more goals in Monday’s SMAC Tournament semifinal win over Mattawan and all three in Wednesday’s championship game as Gull Lake pulled out a 3-2 overtime victory again over the rival Mustangs.
Gull Lake is 14-0-1 this spring and ranked No. 2 in Division 2, while Portage Central is up to No. 5 in Division 1 in this week’s state coaches association poll. This is the first year all SMAC teams are back in one division; Gull Lake won the last five SMAC East girls soccer championships, and last week’s win made six straight regular-season titles. But those Portage Central victories also meant a little more – during last season’s SMAC Tournament, the Mustangs ended Gull Lake’s four-year league winning streak.
The Blue Devils won three straight Division 2 titles from 2013-15 with Wisser’s older sister Riley playing a prominent role, and Reagan is working to lead Gull Lake back to that former height. A three-year starter, she has 29 goals and five assists this spring and is up to 69 goals for her career. Wisser already is set to continue her career after high school at Western Michigan University, and she carries a 4.0 grade-point average with plans to study nursing.
Coach Jeff Corstange said: “Reagan started out her freshman year trying to fit into our system, understand our system, and sophomore year she grasped onto it. (This season) she’s taken the team under her wings and flown with it. … She’s peaked into a tremendous soccer player. I kinda expected (this success), but I don’t think she expected it. Last year when she was getting man marked, she’d get frustrated. She’d get angry that she didn’t score, didn’t contribute to the team. Now she understands that she’s getting man marked but finding ways with her teammates to get open. She’s getting creative, and we tried to stress with her to be creative. … She’s even better off the field – she’s one of the nicest people you’ll meet.”
Performance Point: “It just shows no matter who we play, we are going to come out and do our best and give everything we’ve got to beat them,” Wisser said of the two Portage Central wins. “Last year they beat us, and we also lost our SMAC championship last year, so we had a lot more energy going in. We knew what it felt like to be on the other side, and we didn’t want that to happen again. … (Wednesday) night was super exciting, and we knew going in it would be a game determined by who wanted it more. Throughout the game, we picked up our intensity – and we won because we wanted it more. Definitely, I try to step up as much as I can, but I couldn’t have done it without the help of my teammates encouraging me and pushing me to be my best.”
Time to lead: “I’ve definitely stepped up my leadership role and encouraged others to step up on the field and to be the best they can be every game, because you never know when it can be your last. I looked up to our past captains the years before and how they picked up each and every player and showed them that they can be their best every game. Especially with the team this year, it’s pretty easy to pick each other up, push each other to play harder and play for everyone else around you. … (Leading) actually makes me a better person, makes me want to step up and it makes me want to play harder for my teammates.”
Winning formula: “The team chemistry that we have is nothing like we’ve had in the years before, and I think this year everybody just wants it more. In years before, when people have made mistakes, we kinda just ignored it and we thought they were hanging their heads. But this year, if anyone makes a mistake, everybody’s surrounding them, and (saying) ‘You’ll get the next one,’ and everybody just picks each other up – and it’s just so much more fun to play that way. It makes a huge difference. If you miss a shot, your teammates aren’t going to be mad at you, and you’ll try your best to get the next one. It picks you up as a player and makes you want to play harder for your teammates.”
Mentors to follow: “I just remember watching (my sister’s) games and watching her playing in the state finals, and all the excitement that she had. It made me want to be in her position, made me want to win states. She told me to just keep my head up, and everything will play out as long as you play as a team and play together. … Grace Labadie, she played at Loy Norrix and is at Western now; I played against her my freshman and sophomore year, and she’s just so amazing on and off the ball, and she just was a great teammate to watch and play against. She taught me some moves, and she just talks to me after games and tells me things I did well and things I can improve on. When we’d beat her in games, she always kinda got mad, but she was like, ‘You need to stop being so good.’ It is (a big compliment).”
Paging Nurse Wisser: “Western has a great nursing program … and it really gets me excited for the future. Ever since I was little, I wanted to go into the medical field because I love helping people in any way that I can.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2017-18 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2017-18 honorees:
May 10: Clayton Sayen, Houghton track & field - Read
May 3: Autumn Roberts, Traverse City Central tennis - Read
April 26: Thomas Robinson, Wyoming Lee track & field - Read
March 29: Carlos Johnson, Benton Harbor basketball - Read
March 22: Shine Strickland-Gills, Saginaw Heritage basketball - Read
March 15: Skyler Cook-Weeks, Holland Christian swimming - Read
March 8: Dakota Greer, Howard City Tri-County wrestling - Read
March 1: Camree' Clegg, Wayne Memorial basketball - Read
February 23: Aliah Robertson, Sault Ste. Marie swimming - Read
February 16: Austin O'Hearon, Eaton Rapids wrestling - Read
February 9: Sophia Wiard, Muskegon Oakridge basketball - Read
February 2: Brenden Tulpa, Hartland hockey - Read
January 25: Brandon Whitman, Dundee wrestling - Read
January 18: Derek Maas, Holland West Ottawa swimming - Read
January 11: Lexi Niepoth, Bellaire basketball - Read
November 30: La'Darius Jefferson, Muskegon football - Read
November 23: Ashley Turak, Farmington Hills Harrison swimming - Read
November 16: Bryce Veasley, West Bloomfield football - Read
November 9: Jose Penaloza, Holland soccer - Read
November 2: Karenna Duffey, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North cross country - Read
October 26: Anika Dy, Traverse City West golf - Read
October 19: Andrew Zhang, Bloomfield Hills tennis - Read
October 12: Nolan Fugate, Grand Rapids Catholic Central football - Read
October 5: Marissa Ackerman, Munising tennis - Read
September 28: Minh Le, Portage Central soccer - Read
September 21: Olivia Theis, Lansing Catholic cross country - Read
September 14: Maddy Chinn, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Richland Gull Lake's Reagan Wisser (5) pushes the ball upfield during a game this season. (Middle) Wisser works to get around a defender. (Photos courtesy of the Gull Lake athletic department.)
'Where is Spring Lake?' They'll Know Now as Lakers Begin Reign Atop D2
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
June 15, 2024
EAST LANSING – Ella Andree and Clara Saunders started recording a three-part Tik Tok on the opening day of Spring Lake’s girls soccer season, knowing that in order to film Parts 2 and 3 they would need to advance to, and win, the MHSAA Division 2 Final.
On Saturday, they finished the video.
Spring Lake defeated Bloomfield Hills Marian 1-0 at DeMartin Stadium to avenge a 2021 championship match loss to the Mustangs and claim the first Finals title in school history.
“If we won, we had it ready,” Andree said. “We did win, so I hope it looks good.
“The start of our season was a little rough, we had a lot of ties, and we didn’t really know where we were going to end up. But we pulled it together and figured out what players needed to do what, and to be here is super crazy.”
Andree assisted Aveya Patino on the game’s lone goal, and goalkeeper Jessica Stewart made four saves behind a stout Spring Lake defense to give coach Becky May her first title in her eighth season coaching at her alma mater. That it came on the campus where May played collegiately only made it more sweet.
“Extremely proud of my girls, but just proud of West Michigan, our community and how we’ve been able to step up and really make a name for ourselves in the soccer world,” May said. “I played on this field in college, so as a homecoming for me, here’s why it’s important: When I got announced the first time I started at Michigan State, they announced me from Spring Lake, Michigan, and the girl next to me said, ‘Where in the world is Spring Lake?’ No one heard of anyone outside the sub(urb)s of Detroit. Well, they’ve heard of us now. So I’m very proud.”
The 2021 championship match appearance was Spring Lake’s first, and that ended with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Marian. Andree, Saunders and Stewart were among the players on the field Saturday who had played in that game as freshmen, and getting another shot at the Mustangs certainly added motivation.
“I feel like to replay the team that you originally lost to is always a great feeling,” Saunders said. “It’s just like a second chance. We have gotten a lot better, and I’m just glad that we made it back here. Especially for my senior year. We came out and did what every team wishes to do, is go all the way, and then we won it. I couldn’t be happier or more proud of this team.”
Saturday’s match was tightly contested, with both teams having long stretches of possession but not creating many big scoring chances.
The one that hit the back of the net started when Andree won a ball in the corner and played it across the goal. Marian keeper Dani Mertz was able to get a hand on it, but not all of it, and Patino was there to clean it up, scoring the 29th goal of her freshman season. It was also the first goal Marian (15-4-3) had allowed during the postseason.
“You can’t coach speed, (Patino and Andree are) born with those wheels, and all you have to do as a coach is just put them in the right spot, get them to work together, and they’re just going to be destructive from beginning to end,” May said. “So even when they don’t find the back of the net, they’re putting defenses on their heels and they have to respond to them and react to them. As a result of that, that gives us much more opportunity to possess in the middle of the field. So we put them up top, let them run havoc and then enjoy the benefits of that.”
From there, Spring Lake (17-2-5) stood tall defensively, not allowing the Mustangs to get a great chance to tie the game. With a back three of seniors Ella Rabideau and Brooke Bolthouse and junior Lauren Nicles playing in front of the experienced Stewart, May felt comfortable. Marian, meanwhile, was left frustrated as plenty of second-half possession failed to result in many opportunities.
“They defended with five,” Marian coach Danny Price said. “I watched the Midland game where they played them in the Regional Final, and both of their outside backs were flying forward and they gave us a ton of space. In the first half, they did the same thing. After they scored their goal, they dropped their outside backs really deep and defended with five, which is what we’ve done in the postseason as well. I’ve got to give them props for that, they defended quite resolutely.”
Price was in his first season at Marian, and took over a young squad, as the Mustangs graduate a strong, but small (four) senior class.
“We’ll be back,” he said. “We’ve got a young squad, and we’ve got tons of freshmen coming in; we’ll just reload. We’ll be back here again.”
PHOTOS (Top) Spring Lake keeper Jessica Stewart, in green, goes high to get a hand on the ball Saturday at DeMartin Stadium. (Middle) Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Clair Dauer (16) and Spring Lake’s Elaina Furton work for possession. (Below) Spring Lake players begin their celebration.