Powers Learns, Returns, Wins D3 Title
June 16, 2017
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
WILLIAMSTON – Kennedy Myers didn’t want to forget the images, even if they were still like piercing wounds.
A sophomore forward for the Flint Powers Catholic girls soccer team, Myers had flashbacks of last year’s Division 3 title game loss to Hudsonville Unity Christian when Powers took the field to face Freeland in this year’s Final on Friday.
“Right before this game started, I remembered last year and how the seniors felt getting their medals for second place,” Myers said. “Seeing their faces and how disappointed they were. I knew I had to use that to motivate me today.”
Thanks to two early goals from Myers, Powers made good of another title chance and had a much happier disposition during the medal ceremony this time following a 4-0 defeat of Freeland.
The championship was the second in school history for Powers (26-1-2), which also won it all in 2011.
“You look back knowing we were a better team last year,” Powers coach Art Moody said. “Nothing against Unity because they did what they needed to. We just outshot them last year and learned from that. We came in here saying these were the things we needed to do better. It meant so much to have that negative to look back on to kind of say, ‘Hey, this is how we are going to turn it into a positive.’”
Powers took a 1-0 lead with 30:18 remaining in the first half on a goal by Myers, who found herself with the ball right in front of the goal following a series of deflections off a free kick.
Powers then scored two goals over a span of 1:34, the first by Myers with 19:05 left in the first half.
Dribbling toward the goal from the right side of the net, she had a shot blocked by Freeland junior goalkeeper Alexa Walker.
But the ball bounced back toward the middle of the box, Myers won the race to the ball and fired into an open net to make it 2-0 Powers.
With 17:31 left in the first half, senior Emilie Pechette then drilled home a shot from 18 yards out to give the Chargers a 3-0 lead.
“I definitely think it shot our confidence down,” Freeland coach Lauren Kemerer said. “I just tried to explain to the girls that if something like that happens, you have to pick yourselves up.”
Powers made it 4-0 with 20:25 left in the game when senior Gabrielle Amato headed home a ball in the box off a corner kick by senior Sophia Dubiel that deflected off of a Freeland defender and went in.
“(Last year) definitely carried with us,” Powers senior sweeper Rachel Phillpotts said. “It definitely made an impact on how we came out here and how we did our season this year. We needed to come out and really show people that last year was not a fluke.”
Freeland (23-2) entered with a lot of momentum following a 3-2 Semifinal win Tuesday over three-time reigning champion Unity Christian.
The downside from that win for Freeland was that it lost one of its best players, senior midfielder Jessica Piper, late in the game to a knee injury.
Piper didn’t play in the title game against Powers.
“She’s a phenomenal player,” Kemerer said. “Defensively and offensively she’s a leader on our team, and it was definitely detrimental to our team to not have her.”
Still, Freeland did make the MHSAA championship game for the first time in school history.
“Our goal this year was getting past Unity,” Kemerer said. “We wanted it and worked towards it. We hit our goals. We expected to make it here. It’s unfortunate we lost, but it is what it is. It’s a learning experience for all of us.”
Click for the full scoring summary.
PHOTOS: (Top) Flint Powers Catholic players celebrate during Saturday's Division 3 Final at Williamston High School. (Middle) Freeland's Erin Tyson (2) works to gain possession against Powers' Dominique Amato (19).
Team of the Month: Grosse Pointe North Girls Soccer
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 28, 2023
The Grosse Pointe North girls soccer team won the Division 2 title this month after entering the postseason with just four wins. The Norsemen then became the first eventual champion to advance to a Final with single-digit victories – reaching 10 with a 3-2 shootout clincher over East Grand Rapids at Michigan State’s DeMartin Stadium.
There wasn’t a lot about GPN’s awe-inspiring run that fit the usual template – and no defining “aha” moment when coach Olivia Dallaire knew she had a champion in the making. Instead, the whole season was a building process – but with a clear turning point in the Regional Semifinal.
Coming out of a strong Macomb Area Conference Red, GPN had entered its District the second seed despite its overall record, and with confidence it could win that bracket. But now the Norsemen were facing No. 2-ranked Bloomfield Hills Marian (15-1-2), a nine-time Finals champion, and trailed 2-0 at halftime.
“That (second) half of that game is the turning point the girls still now talk about,” Dallaire said. “We were challenging them that winning the District was not enough; we have more that we can give. I think we came out in the first game of the region satisfied with getting that District title. We were hard on them at halftime. I think they were shell-shocked by Marian, a very good program, and just a little nervous and complacent.”
But Grosse Pointe North – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for June – came back to take Marian to a shootout in an eventual 3-2 win, then defeated No. 6 Trenton in the Regional Final and No. 10 Linden in the Semifinal before edging the No. 4 Pioneers at MSU.
A GPN championship run had a built-in storyline already with Dallaire, who as a junior played on the 2008 Norsemen team that finished Division 1 runner-up before playing her college soccer on the field at MSU where she coached this year’s team to the school’s first championship in the sport.
But of course the uncharted path made for even more. The Norsemen were outscored by a combined 21-16 during the regular season, but outscored six playoff opponents by a combined 11-5 (counting two goals that came with winning those shootouts.)
“I don’t know if I had one defining moment where I felt like we could go all the way and win the whole thing, just because we were challenged every step of the way,” Dallaire said. “Our game against Marian in the Regional Semifinal definitely was a big win and confidence booster for the girls and the coaches. Other than that, just when we got to the state Semifinal game, once we got that win (we) felt anything could happen in the final game. We really had to take one at a time.”
Dallaire also had played on North’s 2008 Class A girls basketball championship team and had plenty of experience with the specialness that goes with reaching a season’s final week. Senior Mia Stephanoff had just come off helping the girls basketball team to the Division 1 Quarterfinals this winter and could echo those sentiments. Stephanoff, by the way, scored the championship-clinching shootout goal against EGR.
GPN entered May with a 3-4-2 record, and after another loss ran off five straight draws. But throughout those ups, downs and lateral advances, Dallaire reminded her team their goal was to peak at the end of month – even if no one would have anticipated the team would climb that high.
“The girls were getting frustrated not seeing the success with the wins, and it was a constant weekly thing we had to remind them that as long as we were improving we were not as a coaching staff concerned about the wins and losses,” she said. “I think at some point they started to believe in that towards the end of our regular season, and when we got results against (Division 1 No. 12) Eisenhower and Anchor Bay and those types of teams … that was a good start to that playoff run.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2022-23
May: Gaylord softball - Report
April: Saugatuck girls soccer - Report
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