Preview: Champs Seek to Extend Streaks
June 11, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The setting is new – at least somewhat – as the MHSAA Girls Soccer Finals return to Michigan State University this spring for the first time since 2012. The format is new, as two Finals will be played Friday and Saturday.
But most of the favorites are familiar as three teams compete to repeat as champions.
Grandville Calvin Christian is playing for its fourth straight title in Division 4, while Richland Gull Lake is looking to make it three straight in Division 2 and Hudsonville Unity Christian is playing for its second straight title but ninth total overall.
The narrative is the opposite in Division 1, where both teams are playing for the first title in program history.
Below is this weekend’s schedule, followed by glances at all eight finalists.
Friday
Hudsonville Unity Christian vs. Detroit Country Day, 1 p.m.
Richland Gull Lake vs. Fenton, 4 p.m.
Saturday
Grandville Calvin Christian vs. Lansing Christian, 1 p.m.
Saline vs. Grand Blanc, 4 p.m.
Tickets cost $8 per day and include admission to baseball and softball games that day 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.
All statistics below are through at least the regular season, with most through teams' Regionals. (Click for links to brackets and scores.)
DIVISION 1
GRAND BLANC
Record/rank: 18-5-5, unranked
Coach: Greg Kehler, 17th season (260-80-47)
League finish: Third in Kensington Lakes Activities Association West.
Championship history: Division 1 runner-up 2004.
Players to watch: Annie Walker, sr. F (29 goals, 10 assists), Lara Wheeler, fr. F (17 goals, 5 assists); Amy Puidokas, jr. GK (0.60 goals-against average, 8 shutouts).
Outlook: Grand Blanc is on its best tournament run since making the Semifinals in 2005 after eliminating No. 1 Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, No. 10 Northville and then No. 5 Troy Athens in its last three games. Walker made the all-state first team last season and is again the scorer to stop, with 2014 all-state honorable mention Lexi Trudeau, a junior, among those moving the ball into striking position.
SALINE
Record/rank: 21-0-3, No. 6
Coach: Dana Restrick, sixth season (record at school N/A)
League finish: First in Southeastern Conference Red.
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: Sofia Sweier, sr. GK (0.17 goals-against average, 20 shutouts); Taylor Mulder, sr. F (41 goals, 11 assists); Amanda Zylstra, sr. D (3 goals, 5 assists).
Outlook: Saline is 40-3-6 over the last two seasons and won its first Regional title last week. No. 3 East Kentwood in the Quarterfinal was the eighth straight opponent to be shut out by the Hornets, who have given up only four goals this season. Sweier and Zylstra made the all-state second team last season, and Mulder made the third.
DIVISION 2
FENTON
Record/rank: 15-4-3, honorable mention
Coach: Matt Sullivan, 11th season (record at school N/A)
League finish: Second in Flint Metro League.
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Players to watch: Brennan Sullivan, sr. M (1 goal, 3 assists); Brianna Costigan, jr. M (9 goals, 11 assists); Abigail Quesnelle, soph. GK (0.60 goals-against average, 14 shutouts).
Outlook: Fenton has reached the Semifinals three of the last seven seasons, but after two one-goal heartbreak losses that ended those first two trips, broke through by beating No. 6 Trenton this week. The Tigers also eliminated No. 4 Warren Regina and No. 8 Linden during the tournament and have won 11 of their last 12 games. Fenton scored 26 goals during the regular season, but has put 17 in the net in six tournament games. Costigan made the all-state second team last season, and Sullivan earned an honorable mention.
RICHLAND GULL LAKE
Record/rank: 24-1-1, No. 2
Coach: Jeff Corstange, fourth season (82-8-4)
League finish: First in Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference East.
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2014), four runner-up finishes.
Players to watch: Hannah Phommavongsa, sr. F (16 goals, 8 assists); Amanda Pavletic, sr. M (14 goals, 8 assists); Olivia Sullivan, sr. D (1 goal, 4 assists); Kirsten Taylor, sr. F (24 goals, 11 assists).
Outlook: Gull Lake has won two straight MHSAA championships and is loaded with veterans as it goes for a third. Taylor made the all-state third team last season, and Phommavongsa, Sullivan and Pavletic earned honorable mentions. Gull Lake defeated No. 10 DeWitt and honorable mention Middleville Thornapple Kellogg during this run, with the lone loss by a goal midseason to Division 1 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. Junior keeper Regan Troff took over in net this spring and has saved 96 percent of the shots against her.
DIVISION 3
DETROIT COUNTRY DAY
Record/rank: 18-3-2, No. 3
Coach: Bob Bukari, 29th season (record at school N/A)
League finish: Does not play in a conference.
Championship history: Five MHSAA titles (most recent 2004), four runner-up finishes.
Players to watch: Isabel Nino, soph. D/GK; Jenna Staudt, sr. D/M; Dagny Hill, soph. M; Libby Ronchetto, sr. M/D (Statistics not submitted).
Outlook: Country Day has finished runner-up three times since its last title, but has plenty of key players who experienced last season’s run. Hill and Staudt made the all-state second team in 2014, Nino made the third and Ronchetto earned honorable mention. The Yellowjackets eliminated No. 6 Grosse Ile and then edged No. 2 Flint Powers Catholic in a shootout to advance to this weekend.
HUDSONVILLE UNITY CHRISTIAN
Record/rank: 23-1, No. 1
Coach: Randy Heethuis, 26th season (487-87-28)
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Green.
Championship history: Eight MHSAA titles (most recent 2014), three runner-up finishes.
Players to watch: Bethany Balcer, sr. M (38 goals, 13 assists); Maddy VanDyke, jr. D (5 goals, 2 assists); Casandra Besteman, sr. M (3 goals, 3 assists); Elly Brummel, sr. D (4 goals, 5 assists).
Outlook: Unity Christian bounced back from a rare Finals miss by winning its eighth title last spring and second in three seasons. Unity Christian downed the reigning champion, Grand Rapids South Christian, in the Regional Final and also eliminated No. 4 Grand Rapids Catholic Central. Balcer – one of five players with at least 10 goals – and VanDyke are returning all-state first-teamers, while Brummel made the second team and Besteman earned honorable mention.
DIVISION 4
GRANDVILLE CALVIN CHRISTIAN
Record/rank: 21-3, No. 2
Coach: Tim TerHaar, 15th season (255-64-20)
League finish: First in O-K Silver.
Championship history: Division 4 champion 2014, 2013 and 2012.
Players to watch: Allison Keizer, sr. GK (0.88 goals-against average, 14 shutouts); Morgan Buursma, sr. D (20 goals, 4 assists); Hilary Curry, sr. M (24 goals, 16 assists); Emily VanVliet, sr. M (11 goals, 26 assists).
Outlook: Calvin Christian can become just the second team in MHSAA history to win four straight girls soccer championships, following the Unity Christian teams of 2005-10. Keizer and Buursma made the all-state first team last season, while Curry made the third team and VanVliet earned honorable mention. Four Calvin Christian players have scored at least 20 goals this season – junior forwards Whitney Koets (28) and Natalie Honeycutt (22) are the other two.
LANSING CHRISTIAN
Record/rank: 20-4, honorable mention
Coach: Joel Vande Kopple, ninth season (129-41-9)
League finish: Tied for first in Greater Lansing Activities Conference.
Championship history: Division 4 runner-up 2011.
Players to watch: Kasey Jamieson, fr. F (47 goals, 15 assists); Emily Voss, sr. F (27 goals, 16 assists); Rachelle Trafford, sr. GK (0.74 goals-against average, 15 shutouts).
Outlook: Lansing Christian has reached at least the Semifinals four of the last five seasons, giving the Pilgrims as much late-round experience as most left this weekend. Voss made the all-state third team in 2014 and provides an excellent one-two scoring punch with Jamieson, who also had both goals in the Semifinal win over Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett to push her first-season total to 49.
PHOTO: Grandville Calvin Christian's Emily VanVliet controls possession during last season's Division 4 Final win.
Keeper Hopes to Help North Muskegon Take Championship Step
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
May 26, 2021
Syann Fairfield says she won’t let anything stop her from leading her team to the Division 4 girls soccer championship.
But don’t take her word for it. Look at her actions.
The last time North Muskegon’s girls soccer team was making a tournament run, Fairfield suffered a nasty eye injury early in the second half of a 2019 Regional championship game win over Houghton Lake.
“I went down to grab the ball and took a knee to my eye,” Fairfield recalled with, of all things, a laugh. “I had to come out for a concussion test and to make sure I could see, but then I went right back in. I was not going to let us lose in the Regional Finals because I had to go out.”
Fairfield is the daughter of Jenny DeJohn and Muskegon High School football coach Shane Fairfield, so she grew up as a ball girl and water girl for her dad’s teams and says she learned about toughness and teamwork in the process.
North Muskegon, which is 14-1-1 and ranked No. 1 in Division 4, hopes that the experience of Fairfield and the team’s other seven seniors will be enough to lift the Norse to the school’s first soccer state championship after heartbreaking 1-0 Semifinal losses to Kalamazoo Christian in 2018 and 2019.
“We definitely have a special team,” said senior forward Emily Olsen, one of four senior captains along with defender Sophia Schotts, midfielder Audrey Wilson and forward Hope Johnson.
“We’ve come so close in the past. We’re giving 100 percent every day and hope that makes the difference this time.”
If the popular school of thought holds that a championship soccer team starts in the back with the goalkeeper and defense, then the top-ranked Norse might just be ready to break through.
Fairfield, who first-year head coach Caleb Parnin calls “one of the greatest athletes that North Muskegon has ever had,” is a dominant, 6-foot-1 keeper and the final line of defense for a team that has allowed just four goals all season.
Fairfield benefits from a pair of standout defenders in Schotts and junior Grace Vander Woude, but the real secret of this North Muskegon team is the combination of great senior leadership and up-and-coming and talented underclassmen at every position.
Fairfield, an all-state middle hitter who will play volleyball next year at Ferris State, injured her ankle late in the basketball season and missed the first several weeks of this soccer season. But she used that time to mentor freshman keeper Emma Lamiman.
The same is true at midfield, where the dominant Wilson missed time earlier this month with an ankle injury, forcing promising freshmen Spencer Zizak and Allie Jensen to be thrown into the heat of the battle.
The leaders up front are the lethal 1-2 combination of Johnson, the leading scorer with 25 goals and 16 assists, and Olsen, whose powerful right leg has produced 19 goals and 18 assists. Among the youngsters learning from those two everyday are sophomores Natalie Pannucci (11 goals, 6 assists) and Jaley Schultz and freshman Kennedi Koekkoek – who scored the most memorable goal of the season with two seconds remaining to salvage a 2-2 tie against No. 2-ranked Lansing Christian.
“When I was out, Spencer and Allie stepped up and now they’re both playing with so much confidence,” said Wilson, who was still taking it easy at Tuesday’s practice. “So, sometimes injuries help the team in the long run, but I will definitely be back and ready to go.”
The Norse suffered their only loss of the season against visiting Division 1 school Holland West Ottawa, 1-0, on April 24, a game in which Johnson did not play.
The tie against Lansing Christian came on May 17, when the Norse found themselves trailing 2-0 at halftime. Johnson cut the lead in half with a goal on a penalty kick, before the harried final moments, when Schotts put a shot on goal and Koekkoek converted the rebound just before time expired.
North Muskegon played its last game May 21, a tight 2-1 win at Ludington. With no conference tournament in the West Michigan Conference, the Norse will have an 11-day layoff before their District opener June 1.
“Honestly, we’re excited to have this extra practice time, because our coaching staff really thinks we can bring these girls to the next level,” said Parnin, who is assisted by Chris Wilson, Pete Johnson, Adam Schultz and Kim Gorbach – the program’s junior varsity and goalkeeper coach.
Parnin, a 2003 North Muskegon graduate who played collegiate soccer at Trinity International University near Chicago, returned home in the fall of 2019 to teach English at his alma mater. The plan was to serve a one-year apprenticeship as Ryan Berends’ assistant, before COVID-19 wiped out last spring’s season.
Parnin, who compared coaching this year’s talented team with “being handed the keys to a Corvette,” has made a point of getting more girls out for soccer. His work is paying dividends with 34 high school girls soccer players, nearly double the number from 2019, with the ability to field a junior varsity team.
While the future looks bright for the program, right now everyone’s focus is on this year’s tournament – where another potential showdown with No. 3-ranked Kalamazoo Christian looms, as well as a possible rematch against Lansing Christian in the Final on June 19 at Michigan State University.
If those clashes come to fruition, Parnin is well aware they could be decided by a shootout, in which case he feels very confident with Fairfield in the net.
“I couldn’t trust anyone more than I trust Syann,” said Parnin. “When we do our penalty kick drills, Syann wins. I mean, she shuts it down.
“She has the size and athletic ability, but she also has that intangible quality of a great athlete where she welcomes the challenge.”
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) North Muskegon senior keeper Syann Fairfield boots the ball during a game against Holland West Ottawa. The Norse have allowed just four goals in 16 games this spring. (Middle) North Muskegon senior captain Emily Olsen, who has 19 goals and 18 assists, leaps before making a play on the ball. (Below) Norse senior captain Audrey Wilson, who has 16 goals and 10 assists, battles for possession of the ball. (Photos by Rhonda Kinahan.)