Unexpected Becomes Elite As Hartland Makes History
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
June 19, 2021
EAST LANSING – Hartland wasn’t supposed to be in the Division 1 championship game.
And Julia Pietila wasn’t supposed to play.
So, naturally, it was Pietila – hobbling on a severely sprained left ankle which almost kept her out of the game altogether – who scored two goals as Hartland blanked Troy Athens, 4-0, in Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 Girls Soccer Final.
“It was hurting, but it’s the state championship game,” explained Pietila, who scored the Eagles’ first and last goals in the weekend’s final game in calm, dry conditions at Michigan State University’s DeMartin Soccer Complex.
“It was now or never, so I just went with it. Once I got into the swing of things, I forgot about it.”
Hartland (20-4-1) had entered the postseason off a third-place league finish and ranked 23rd in Division 1 based on the Michigan Power Rating used to seed the top two teams at the District level.
But the Eagles seemingly forgot about all of that and the fact that it had never played in a girls soccer Finals game before, shutting out six of its seven postseason opponents.
The Eagles capped it Saturday by making Athens – No. 2 in final regular-season MPR – pay for its aggressiveness with an impressive counterattack, then cashing in on their opportunities.
It was an emotional win for veteran Hartland coach Andrew Kartsounes – who has been teaching at Hartland for 30 years and coaching soccer for 27, including the past 16 as the girls head coach – in his first appearance in a championship game.
“I was wondering if I was ever going to get here, and then to play the kind of game we did today was just amazing,” said Kartsounes, who is assisted by Wade Foster and Eric Anderson. “We just kept plugging away and created chances and, today, we finished a lot of our chances.”
Hartland grabbed a 1-0 halftime lead after junior Hannah Kastamo broke through the Athens defense and put a shot on goal, which Pietila booted in off the rebound at the 16:56 mark.
The key portion of the game was the first 10 minutes of the second half. During that period, the Red Hawks controlled play and had two excellent scoring chances – a header off a free kick that missed wide right and a nifty boot by junior Abby Mayne which just missed wide left.
But just as Athens was feeling good about things and the crowd of red was coming alive in the stands, Hartland responded with its aforementioned counterattack.
Senior Maria Storm was able to break away and send a perfectly angled kick into the top-right corner of the net with 31:32 remaining to make it 2-0 – a goal which seemed to demoralize Athens. Just two minutes later, Hartland made it 3-0 on another goal by Kastamo.
“We haven’t seen that kind of counterattack in a while,” said 10th-year Athens coach Todd Heugh. “We generated corner kicks, and they generated goals. Soccer is a game of chances. They made good on theirs, and we did not on ours.”
Athens (17-2-4) has won four girls soccer championships, but its last title came 21 years ago in 2000. The Red Hawks, who had posted eight consecutive shutouts coming into Saturday’s Final, now have three runner-up finishes.
Kartsounes agreed the key to the victory was weathering the storm early in the second half.
“They started the second half and were really taking it to us,” said Kartsounes, who received tremendous on-field leadership from captains Kamryn Gereck, Justina L’Esperance and Storm. “I told my assistants that we can’t survive like this for 40 minutes, then we finally started possessing the ball.”
Pietila completed the scoring with her second goal of the day at the 18:21 mark. Alyse Daavettila and L’Esperance added assists for the Eagles.
Athens actually held the edge in total shots (16-14) and corner kicks (6-3), but Hartland held a 9-7 advantage in shots on goal. Athens senior keeper Nitya Balusu made five saves.
Hartland junior keeper Morgan Seog was outstanding in goal, finishing with six saves. The Eagles produced shutouts in the first five playoff games and final game.
The only postseason game in which Hartland allowed a goal was Wednesday’s Semifinal, a narrow 3-2 win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. It was also seven minutes into that game when Pietila sprained her ankle on a sprinkler.
“On Wednesday night, there was no way she was going to play, Thursday was a little better and it wasn’t until after warmups today that we knew she was going to play for sure,” said Kartsounes. “Then she goes out there and scores the game-winning goal of the state finals on one leg.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Hartland players celebrate during their Division 1 Final win Saturday. (Middle) The Eagles’ Maria Storm (13) and Athens’ Meagan Lindgren (15) battle for possession.
North Muskegon Surges Again to Cap Storybook Season
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
June 19, 2021
EAST LANSING – Caleb Parnin has been playing a little mind game on his North Muskegon girls soccer team all season long.
“We’ve been telling the girls all year that we are a second-half team,” said Parnin. “Honestly, part of that is just brainwashing them to believe it, and then hoping they make it a reality.”
It proved to be masterful strategy by the first-year coach, as the Norse worked their second-half magic again Saturday. They turned a 1-0 halftime lead into a 5-0 runaway over Royal Oak Shrine Catholic in the MHSAA Division 4 Final at Michigan State University’s DeMartin Soccer Complex, clinching the first Finals championship in program history.
Hope Johnson, NM’s senior leader and top scorer, set up sophomore Jaley Schulz for the lone goal of the first half in brilliant fashion – then started the second-half onslaught with a breakaway goal seven minutes after the restart.
Emily Olsen, Katie Kinahan and Audrey Wilson also tallied for North Muskegon, which finished with a 20-1-1 record.
Johnson, who has played with many of these teammates since she was 4 years old, said they were excited for the chance to play on the state’s biggest stage.
“We were always waiting for the next challenge and for the opportunity to show what we can do,” said Johnson, who added two assists to finish with 37 goals and 23 assists this spring. “Today was that day.”
North Muskegon dominated the game, finishing with a 22-6 edge in total shots and a 12-2 advantage in shots on goal.
That performance was a continuation from the second half of Wednesday’s Semifinal win over top-ranked Grandville Calvin Christian, when the Norse scored two goals after halftime in a 2-0 win. NM allowed only one second-half goal the entire season.
Royal Oak Shrine, which was the reigning Division 4 champion after downing Kalamazoo Christian 4-0 in the 2019 Final, finished 14-4-1 and lost its first game since April.
The Knights played their best soccer in the final 20 minutes of the first half, controlling play for a long stretch after Schulz’s opening goal.
Shrine was ultimately denied by the Norsemen’s stingy defense, led by senior Sophia Schotts and junior Grace VanderWoude. The other defensive leaders for NM were junior Molly Stewart and freshmen Abby Martinez and Kennedi Koekkoek.
“This season was something special,” said 21st-year Shrine coach Mark Soma, who had just three senior starters. “Things got away from us in the second half, and a lot of that had to do with being young and tired and making mistakes.”
On the rare occasions that the Knights got past the Norse defense and had scoring opportunities, NM senior keeper Syann Fairfield shut the door.
Fairfield, the daughter of Muskegon High School football coach Shane Fairfield, showed her toughness by coming well out of her box and challenging shots repeatedly.
“Syann is so tough, and she was determined to get that shutout,” said Parnin, who is assisted by Chris Wilson, Pete Johnson, Adam Schulz and goalkeeper coach Kim Gorbach. “She senses things and goes out and stops them before they happen. Nothing she does surprises me.”
The early part of the game was played in a steady rain, but by early in the second half the rain had moved out, leaving dry and extremely calm conditions.
It was a perfect stage for Johnson to work her magic, repeatedly drawing Shrine’s defenders to her with her breakaway speed and then dropping the ball off to her teammates. A perfect example came on the opening goal, when Johnson dribbled the ball across the goal mouth, bringing Shrine’s keeper with her, then slid it back to Schulz, who was unmarked, for an easy goal.
“Hope just finagled her way around a couple of defenders, like she does, got the goalie out of position and left it for me,” explained Schulz. “I just tapped it in.”
It was fitting that three of NM’s senior captains scored goals (Johnson, Olsen and Wilson), while the fourth – Schotts – led the defensive effort.
While the season had a storybook finish with the school’s first Finals championship, it was understandably bittersweet.
“This is such a great group of girls, and we all love each other so much,” said Johnson. “I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do not seeing them all the time.”
PHOTOS: (Top) North Muskegon’s girls soccer team celebrates its first Finals championship Saturday at MSU. (Middle) The Norse’s Natalie Pannucci (4) moves the ball ahead amid the midday downpour.