It took a shootout to settle the Division 3 semifinal between No. 12 Detroit Country Day and No. 5 Grosse Ile at Howell’s Parker Middle School on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, but the Red Devils beat the Yellowjackets, 4 -3, on penalty. kicks to advance to Saturday’s state title game in East Lansing, facing No. 1 Hudsonville Unity Christian. (MATHEW B. MOWERY – MediaNews Group)
HOWELL — Last season, the Grosse Ile girls soccer team survived a 10-round marathon shootout to take down Flint Powers Catholic and punch its ticket to the Division 3 state championship game.
Almost exactly one calendar year later, the Red Devils found themselves in a similar situation Wednesday in a state semifinal game against a familiar postseason foe on Detroit Country Day. And no matter how many teams work tirelessly to be prepared for such situations, there is always a big question mark when the time comes.
“You always have questions about it right now,” Grosse Ile head coach Kyle Lesperance said. “It can be so big. “We work on a lot of different things in practice to try to replicate that pressure, but you never know how it will play out on game day.”
The pressure was on once again when 100 minutes of play (80 in regulation time and another 20 in overtime) were not enough to determine a winner, much less see a goal scored. But in the end, it was the experience of playing in big playoff games last year that helped the Islanders on Wednesday.
Thanks to a 3-2 shootout lead, Grosse Ile cruised to a 1-0 victory over Country Day and earned a trip back to the D3 state championship game.
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Photo gallery from the D3 women’s soccer semifinal between Grosse Ile and Detroit Country Day
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“This says a lot for our seniors who had the opportunity to go through this last year,” Lesperance said. “We went to two penalties (in the playoffs) last year. I think that experience is enormous. “We have some players on this team and you never know who is going to step up.”
Those ‘players’ who stepped up were five seniors, all of whom were on last year’s eventual state runner-up team, which Lesperance deployed in the shootout. And it was a junior, Alaina Korody, who performed heroics in the fifth and final winning attempt for Grosse Ile.
Both teams capitalized on their respective first downs (Jenna Shaban for Country Day and Aubree Korody for Grosse Ile) before the Devils’ Monica Arndt and the Yellowjackets’ Mercedes Arinez made stops on second downs. The penalty shootout then saw four consecutive goals scored, with Regan Harkins and Megan Mateer scoring for Country Day, followed by responses from Alexandra Stefan and Cassidy Eblin.
Alaina Korody’s efforts came after Arndt rejected Naima Safiedine’s fifth Country Day attempt. The do-or-die PKs followed a regulation and a couple of overtime periods in which neither team was unable to gain any kind of consistent traction in terms of pressure and scoring opportunities.
But that’s also pretty much what both sides expected.
“Neither team really had the clear-cut opportunities that I thought they would normally have once or twice a game,” Lesperance said. “But it played out as we thought: a great midfield battle with a solid defence.
“It definitely had 1-0 written all over it.”
Whether from set pieces or passes across the backline, the chances were not of the highest quality throughout the game. A candid Country Day head coach, Laura Hamway, after the match noted that “focus” is a factor in the execution of notable set pieces, or rather the lack thereof.
“To be honest, I thought we could have produced more on free throws,” Hamway said. “There were a couple just outside the 18-yard penalty area where the attention just wasn’t there. And it’s a great moment in a great game.”
Hamway also highlighted how youth and inexperience on the part of his Yellowjackets showed at times Wednesday. Country Day this spring featured a team with just four seniors, all of whom were on the 2021 state championship team, along with a host of freshmen.
“This team is extremely young, most of whom are freshmen and sophomores,” Hamway said. “So there were moments in this game where youth and nerves got the best of us. But there were also times when our juniors and seniors settled the game, and then we started to possess and gain momentum. It was a back and forth like that the whole time and I felt like I was at a stalemate.”
Even at this young age, few teams have been more battle-tested than Country Day this season. In fact, at the time of playoff seeding on May 12, the ‘Jackets had the eighth-highest winning percentage of opponents in the entire state (.659). This year’s schedule included three state championship game representatives in Rochester Adams (D1), Bloomfield Hills Marian (D2) and now Grosse Ile.
“They’re always very organized,” Lesperance said of the Yellowjackets. “Even when you think they’re down, it’s very difficult to beat them in a game. But the girls were ready for it. I hoped it wouldn’t end in a penalty shootout, but we were also confident if it did.”
The loss caps what was otherwise a mixed bag for Country Day in terms of wins and losses (8-6-4). But as Hamway mentioned earlier, big things could be in store for the Yellowjackets in the near future, perhaps as soon as next season.
“(Arinez) is just a junior,” Hamway said. “And you’d be surprised how many freshmen and sophomores are playing. The future is bright, so you have to feel this moment, learn from this moment and hate this moment. And next time, don’t let the game come into play.” that situation where he can go in any direction.”
UNTIL NEXT TIME
The MHSAA D3 state championship game will take place on Saturday, June 15 at the DeMartin Soccer Stadium complex on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing (1:00 p.m.).
It will be a rematch of the 2023 state finals, as Grosse Ile (17-2-5) will face Hudsonville Unity Christian, who posted a 5-0 victory over Freeland in their semifinal round match on Wednesday. Unity Christian (21-1-2), who will be making their 16th appearance in the state finals, blanked the Devils 3-0 in the title game a year ago to win the program’s 11th state championship.
“I’m very excited,” Lesperance said. “It has been our goal all season. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience and it’s very difficult to go back there over the course of four years, let alone in a row.”
“We would love to get a little revenge on (Unity Christian).”
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