Pilgrims Convert, Claim Elusive Soccer Prize
June 17, 2017
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
WILLIAMSTON – About three weeks ago, Lansing Christian girls soccer coach Joel Vande Kopple said junior goalkeeper Lynn Cullens came to him at practice with what couldn’t have been classified as uplifting words.
“She says, ‘Coach, we are not going to win a state championship with me in goal on penalty kicks,’” Vande Kopple said. “We just kept working with her.”
Fast forward to Saturday’s Division 4 championship game against Kalamazoo Christian, and guess what situation Lansing Christian found itself in?
You guessed it, penalty kicks.
After giving up the tying goal with 3:03 left in overtime, a dejected Lansing Christian team had to regroup and see its goalie face her worst fears in pursuit of an elusive first MHSAA girls soccer title in school history.
But Cullens rose above her shootout fears, making a save and seeing another shot go off of the crossbar.
Thanks to those two failed conversions and four successful ones by Lansing Christian, the Pilgrims finally delivered a long-awaited title with a 2-1 shootout victory.
“It was very nerve-wracking,” Cullens said. “That was the worst spot I could’ve thought of being in, but I just had to trust in God all the way and I did. It ended up pretty well. I had to stop doubting myself.”
After dominating the play during regulation but failing to produce a goal, it looked like Lansing Christian wasn’t going to need a shootout.
With 7:22 left in the first overtime period, sophomore Rilyn Ross beautifully headed home a service into the box by sophomore Jackie Moore to make it 1-0 Lansing Christian.
With Pilgrims fans counting down the minutes in anticipation of the first MHSAA title in program history, Kalamazoo Christian had an answer.
With 3:03 remaining in the second period of overtime, the Comets got an opportunity with a corner kick and sent all 11 players into the box, including senior keeper Allyson Kranstz.
All the commotion in the box paid off, as freshman Lauryn Mohney headed in a perfect service by senior Meagan Laaksonen to tie the game 1-1.
“We had to do something,” Kalamazoo Christian coach Jay Allen said. “My goalie in practice has always wanted to be a forward, so this was her chance.”
Kalamazoo Christian was obviously the much more upbeat team going into the shootout, prompting Vande Kopple to turn into a motivational speaker.
“We wanted to make sure that we were very positive,” Vande Kopple said. “We have been in this position before. We have given up late goals before, and we have always found a way to win.”
Both Lansing Christian sophomore Kealeigh Usiak and Kalamazoo Christian’s Laaksonen scored in the first round of the shootout, and then Lansing Christian sophomore Abby Lyon scored to start the second.
Cullens then dove to her left to stop Kalamazoo Christian leading scorer Kayla Beebe to give the Pilgrims an early edge.
Kranstz answered by stopping Lansing Christian leading scorer Kasey Jamieson to start the third round, but the Pilgrims maintained a lead after Kalamazoo Christian hit the crossbar.
After goals by Lansing Christian junior Jessie Kruger and Kalamazoo Christian senior Annika VanZytveld in the fourth round, Pilgrims sophomore Eliza Lewis scored to clinch the title.
The Pilgrims (23-2-2) previously had lost in the 2015 and 2011 championship games. Making its first Finals appearance since 2008, Kalamazoo Christian finished 20-3-3.
Kranstz made 13 saves in goal for the Comets.
PHOTOS: (Top) Lansing Christian celebrates during its first Division 4 championship win. (Middle) Abigail Dykema helps clear the goal for Kalamazoo Christian.
Team of the Month: Saugatuck Girls Soccer
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 12, 2023
As mid-May approached two years ago, girls soccer was nowhere to be found in the Saugatuck trophy case, and the team’s championship banner hung blank in the school’s gym next to well-populated celebrations for cross country, track & field and other programs with histories of success.
Just less than 24 months later, things have changed – and are still accelerating as the Trailblazers are putting up numbers from the pitch now as well.
The Saugatuck girls soccer program capped its 2021 season by winning its first District title, then repeated last season. And just over a week ago, the Trailblazers clinched their first league championship in the sport, claiming the Southwestern Athletic Conference Lakeshore title with a 3-0 win over Holland Black River.
Saugatuck’s girls soccer team – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for April – is undefeated since suffering its lone loss of the season March 27. The Trailblazers are 14-1, up to No. 9 in the Division 4 coaches poll, and show no signs of slowing down with 10 shutouts including five over their last six games.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm, especially because soccer hasn’t been big in our school … so to actually get some notice for what we’re doing in soccer, I think our girls are just really super excited about all the attention they’ve received,” said Trailblazers coach Jordan Campbell, who took over the girls soccer program in 2014. “But I think they are also a pretty confident group. I think they expected to be able to compete really well, and last year we lost six games and I think our seniors this year took that all a little personally because they felt that we were better than some of those teams.
“It’s kind of like we want to make sure that (Saugatuck girls) soccer is not just a team that’s just around and can be competitive, but it’s a team that you’ve got to be prepared for.”
After the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19, Saugatuck won 12 games both of the last two. The Trailblazers finished 12-6-3 last year, and already this spring has avenged three of those losses and turned the three draws into three victories.
A group of seven seniors has set things in motion again after helping make the charge over the last two seasons. Senior Adele Nieuwsma moved to Saugatuck from out of state before the 2021 season and made the Division 4 all-state third team a year ago. Haley Rivera, Erin Moerler and Eva Kierzek join her as captains and came up through the Saugatuck recreation and community programs. Iris Kuipers, Ellen Martinsson and Mia Zerfas further bolster the senior class – Kuipers, along with sophomore keeper Kennedy Gustafson, earned all-state honorable mention in 2022.
The team is surging, and the program is growing. The Trailblazers are up about 10 players over totals from the last two seasons, to 35 this spring, which has allowed for varsity and junior varsity teams.
It was a memorable moment for sure when the “2021” was added to the girls soccer banner in the gym, signifying that first District title. These seniors may need to return to celebrate the “2023” for the league title – and perhaps more – that could be part of this memorable run before it finishes next month.
“We’ve had really solid core seniors, and they’ve really stepped up and I almost feel like we’re on autopilot with this group because they do everything on their own and they push each other, and they work to get each other involved and they care about the younger kids and try to get them involved,” Campbell said. “I think it’s a huge thing we’ve seen with this group coming up and getting some experience and building, and seeing where we were when they started as freshman to the last couple of years.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2022-23
March: Croswell-Lexington competitive cheer - Report
February: Hart girls & boys basketball - Report
January: Taylor Trillium Academy girls bowling - Report
December: Byron Center hockey - Report
November: Martin football - Report
October: Gladwin volleyball - Report
September: Negaunee girls tennis - Report
PHOTO courtesy of the Saugatuck athletic department.