Preview: 4 More Seek to Join Champs List
June 16, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Half of the teams playing in MHSAA Girls Soccer Finals on Friday or Saturday will be seeking their first championships. One, Montrose, will be playing in a championship game for the first time.
And at least one of those four finales, in Division 2, will see some team celebrate an MHSAA title for the first time.
That's just one of the possibilities to look forward to from this season's final weekend. Following is the schedule at DeMartin Stadium:
Division 1 - Friday - 4 p.m.
Canton (17-2-4) vs Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (17-3-3)
Division 2 - Saturday - 4 p.m.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern (16-3-4) vs Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (20-1-3)
Division 3 - Saturday - 1 p.m.
Hudsonville Unity Christian (21-2-1) vs Flint Powers Catholic (21-2-1)
Division 4 - Friday - 1 p.m.
Montrose (23-3-1) vs Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett (18-2-1)
Tickets cost $8 per round and include admission to softball and baseball games those days also at MSU’s Old College Field. Radio broadcasts of all games can be heard online at MHSAAnetwork.com. All games will be streamed live online at MHSAA.TV and viewable on subscription basis. Click to order tickets in advance and for a parking map.
All statistics below are through Regionals. (Click for links to brackets and scores.)
DIVISION 1
CANTON
Record/rank: 17-2-4, unranked
Coach: Jeannine Reddy, sixth season (83-28-14)
League finish: First in Kensington Lakes Activities Association South
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2001), three runner-up finishes.
Players to watch: Jennifer Richmond, jr. F; Jordan Anheuser, sr. GK. (Statistics not submitted.)
Outlook: Canton should be riding high from eliminating top-ranked Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in the Semifinal after needing overtime shootouts twice to advance in earlier rounds. This will be the Chiefs’ first championship game appearance since the last title run 15 years ago. The only losses this spring came in the final two regular-season games, against No. 4 Novi and No. 8 Walled Lake Northern. Richmond earned an all-state honorable mention last season.
ROCHESTER HILLS STONEY CREEK
Record/rank: 17-3-3, No. 10
Coach: Bryan Mittelstadt, sixth season (93-20-6)
League finish: Third in Oakland Activities Conference Red.
Championship history: Division 2 runner-up 2005.
Players to watch: Taylor Paradoski, sr. F (21 goals, 8 assists); Emily Solek, jr. M (8 goals, 11 assists); Gina Cerny, jr. GK (0.76 goals-against average, 9 shutouts).
Outlook: Stoney Creek won its first Regional title since that 2005 championship game run and has beaten four top-15 teams during this one – No. 2 Utica Eisenhower, No. 4 Novi, No. 7 Utica Ford and No. 14 Troy Athens. The Cougars have outscored their six postseason opponents by a combined score of 11-2. Paradoski, one of two senior starters and three on the roster, made the Division 1 all-state second team last season.
DIVISION 2
GRAND RAPIDS FOREST HILLS NORTHERN
Record/rank: 16-3-4, unranked
Coach: Daniel Siminski, third season (48-9-7)
League finish: Second in Ottawa-Kent Conference Bronze.
Championship history: Division 2 runner-up 2010.
Players to watch: Emily Ashby, soph. M/D (4 goals, 8 assists); Sophia Terzes, soph. F/M (9 goals, 20 assists); Amanda Young, jr. GK (0.54 goals-against average, 13 shutouts).
Outlook: Forest Hills Northern beat No. 13 Dexter in the Semifinal to return to the Finals, but could become a regular contender the next few seasons as defender Shelby Ostrander is the only senior. Ashby made the all-state third team and Terzes earned an honorable mention last season as freshmen, and junior Natalie Belsito and sophomore Lauren Kozal are the team’s leading scorers with 17 and 11 goals, respectively.
PONTIAC NOTRE DAME PREP
Record/rank: 20-1-3, No. 3
Coach: Jim Stachura, seventh season (110-35-10)
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic League Division 2
Championship history: Division 3 runner-up 2013.
Players to watch: Rosella LoChirco, sr. M (15 goals, 11 assists); Celia Gaynor, soph. M (18 goals, 16 assists); Erika Wiest, sr. F (15 goals, 14 assists).
Outlook: Notre Dame Prep’s return to the Finals included wins over No. 1 DeWitt, No. 4 Bloomfield Hills Marian, No. 8 Warren Regina and No. 14 Fenton, with none of six postseason opponents scoring more than a goal on the Fighting Irish. Keeper Haley Williams was giving up only 0.57 goals per game and had nine shutouts coming into the week. LoChirco made the all-state first team last season.
DIVISION 3
FLINT POWERS CATHOLIC
Record/rank: 21-2-1, No. 1
Coach: Art Moody, ninth season (160-39-15)
League finish: First in Saginaw Valley League South
Championship history: Division 3 champion 2011, five runner-up finishes.
Players to watch: Sophie Bubnar, soph. F (16 goals, 17 assists); Erin Emmert, sr. M (6 goals, 9 assists); Rachel Phillpotts, jr. D (11 goals, 4 assists).
Outlook: Powers will play in its first Final since finishing runner-up in 2012 thanks to a Quarterfinal win over No. 4 Grosse Ile in addition to previous tournament wins over No. 8 Birch Run and No. 14 Macomb Lutheran North. Phillpotts made the all-state first team last season and is one of three defenders honored; juniors Abbey Clothier and Sydney Willhoite both earned honorable mentions in 2015, and Emmert made the all-state second team. The Chargers have given up only 16 goals this season, and freshman forward Rachel Rasins alone leads Powers with 18 goals.
HUDSONVILLE UNITY CHRISTIAN
Record/rank: 21-2-1, No. 2
Coach: Randy Heethuis, 27th season (509-89-29)
League finish: First in O-K Green.
Championship history: Nine MHSAA titles (most recent 2015), three runner-up finishes.
Players to watch: Maddy VanDyke, sr. D (11 goals, 7 assists); Alexis Ponstein, soph. F (10 goals, 11 assists); Emily Ponstein, jr. GK (0.39 goals-against average, 13 shutouts).
Outlook: Unity Christian’s run is up to two straight titles and three over the last four seasons. The Crusaders have gotten past No. 5 Paw Paw and No. 6 Freeland so far this run, outscoring its six tournament opponents by a combined score of 26-1. Unity Christian has given up only 11 goals this season and more than one only twice. VanDyke is a two-time all-state first-teamer. Senior forward Aubree DeRoo had 10 goals entering this week and adds another scoring threat.
DIVISION 4
GROSSE POINTE WOODS UNIVERSITY LIGGETT
Record/rank: 18-2-1, No. 4
Coach: David Dwaihy, eighth season (97-44-3)
League finish: First in Michigan Independent Athletic Conference
Championship history: Division 4 champion 2005.
Players to watch: Alexis Wenger, soph. F (28 goals, 10 assists); Kelly Solak, soph. M (12 goals, 12 assists); Maddie Wu, jr. M (2 goals).
Outlook: Liggett won its fifth straight District title and second straight Regional this spring, and could take the next step with a young but talented nucleus. In addition to Wenger and Solak, freshman midfielder Izzy Brusilow had 12 goals and 13 assists entering the week, and junior keeper Kara Francis had 10 shutouts. Senior Madison Jerome and junior Rebecca Lohman joined Wu and Solak among those who earned all-state honors at some level in 2015.
MONTROSE
Record/rank: 23-3-1, No. 8
Coach: Jason Perrin, 13th season (183-77-20)
League finish: Second in Genesee Area Conference
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: Alexis Rush, sr. GK (0.35 goals-against average, 20 shutouts); Paige Renshaw, sr. M (31 goals, 17 assists); Emma Gipe, fr. F (19 goals, 9 assists).
Outlook: The Rams’ best season has included their first Regional title and now this opportunity but is not entirely a surprise, as Montrose has had a winning record every spring under Perrin. Renshaw earned an all-state honorable mention last season and has plenty of scoring help; in addition to Gipe, senior Ellory Barnette and sophomore Amber Wing both had 14 goals heading into this week, and sophomore Remington Hobson had 11. Montrose handed No. 2 Elk Rapids its first and only loss in the Regional Final and downed top-ranked Lansing Christian in the Semifinal.
PHOTO: Hudsonville Unity Christian players hoist their latest Division 3 championship trophy last season amid the fans and cameras at DeMartin Stadium.
Anchored By Current Star, Dedicated to Past, Stoney Creek Surges Late for D1 Win
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2023
EAST LANSING – Rochester Hills Stoney Creek’s MHSAA Division 1 girls soccer championship battle against Hudsonville was expected to be a low-scoring, high-energy battle Saturday afternoon at DeMartin Field.
It lived up to the billing – and for the Cougars, so much more.
Stoney Creek scored two goals over the final 8 minutes, 41 seconds, both from reigning Miss Soccer Award winner Lilley Bosley, to claim the title with a 2-1 victory.
Bottled up for most of the game, Bosley – headed next to Michigan – bounced in a rebound with 1:49 left to stun the Eagles. It was her 52nd goal of the season.
“We’ve been waiting for this,’’ said Bosley. “We worked in practice on switching the field on the long balls. We recognized on film that they over-shift a lot, and they’re very ball-oriented. That score came off us switching the field. We had a diagonal ball, and then I got our momentum going.’’
Hudsonville (19-3-2) shadowed Bosley all afternoon, including with freshman Lauren Moylan – who was fantastic as a defender and playmaker.
“You put (Bosley) in the midfield, but they had that girl marking her the whole time,’’ said Stoney Creek coach Bryan Mittelstadt. “They had a couple behind her. We had to move her around a little bit to get her more active. We pushed her up a little bit higher. We dropped her a little higher and put her on the left. We tried to mess up their shape a little bit. She puts herself in places where she can be effective.’’
On her winning goal, Bosley said: “We scored a lot of our goals on set pieces. We have really good corner takers. Ava Avripas and Kaeli Butcher are fantastic on the corners. They are very accurate. We knew that we were going to get on the end of one of the corners to score.
“I really thought (today) I had more space than I normally do.’’
Senior defender Lily Solek was playing for the family’s second soccer title, and with her teammates was driven by the memory of her older sister who starred for the Cougars the first time they won it all.
Emily Solek scored the only goal in Stoney Creek’s championship win over Canton on June 17, 2016 – the same date as this victory, seven year ago. A multi-sport standout for the Cougars, Emily Solek died in 2020 after a car crash.
“I had two sisters on that team,’’ said Lily Solek. “Today would have been Emily’s 24th birthday. This means so much. Seven years to the day she scored the winning goal in PK for our state title.’’
Said Bosley: “Lily is my best friend. We’ve been together since little kids. We dedicated this to Emily. It was seven years to the day. With this being her birthday, it just makes it so much better.’’
The Cougars (26-1-1) had defeated top-ranked Rochester High, No. 12 Utica Eisenhower and No. 15 Saline during its run. Hudsonville advanced with wins over No. 2 Northville and No. 7 Portage Central, and hadn’t given up a goal in the playoffs before Bosley’s first Saturday.
Eagles coach Holly VanNoord was a record-setting keeper a decade ago at Unity Christian, which won the Division 3 title Friday, and Hudsonville High also had closed the regular season with a 1-1 draw against her alma mater.
There was plenty of action Saturday but no scoring until senior Raeleigh Woodwyk (playing next at Grand Valley State) booted in a rebound off a shot by Moylan that hit the crossbar to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the game.
Stoney Creek’s Madeline McGinlay did her best to tie the score with 15 minutes remaining in the first half, but her shot was deflected over the net.
Junior keeper Reid DeGoede was brilliant for Hudsonville during the first half, and all-state senior Clara Feenstra, next playing at Hope College, took over to start the second and blocked a shot off a centering pass that seemed destined to score.
Bosley finally got loose and tied the game at 1-1 with 8:41 to play off an assist from Megan Kennedy.
PHOTOS (Top) Stoney Creek’s Lily Solek (8) moves the ball upfield during Saturday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) Hudsonville’s Raeleigh Woodwyk (9) celebrates her goal. (Below) The Cougars’ Laura Palmer (14) and Jessica Kennedy celebrate. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)