Michigan high school sports

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Area senior players net one last chance

Nearly 200 show their skills in fron of college coaches at fourth annual foundation event

A couple of hundred Metro Detroit senior boys basketball players got one final opportunity to impress college coaches Saturday at the Horatio Williams Foundation’s fourth annual Second Chance Basketball Games held at Detroit Renaissance High School.

The event was designed to highlight the skills of area seniors who have not yet received college scholarship offers in front of Division II, Division III, junior college, and community college coaches from around the state. Division I coaches cannot participate due to NCAA recruiting restrictions.

The majority of players participating came from Detroit high schools, but others came from as far as Flint, Port Huron, and Grand Blanc to play.

Nearly 200 boys played ins front of 27 college coaches during the event.

Senior girls will play next Saturday, April 17, at the Northwest Activity Center in Detroit beginning at noon. Girls can register by going to www.horatiowilliams.org.

"The idea was to give a kid an opportunity to play who might not have that opportunity," Williams told the Detroit News. "The key thing is to have college coaches have a look at these players. Maybe they hadn't seen them before. They get a chance to watch them compete and meet them, one on one."

Last year, 16 boys and six girls received college scholarships after the event.

PRESS CLIPPINGS FROM AROUND THE STATE

Updated Wednesday, June 9

MHSAA girls soccer regional playoffs

> AnnArbor.com: Ann Arbor Greenhills falls to Madison Heights Bishop Foley

> AnnArbor.com: Ann Arbor Skyline reaches regional final

> AnnArbor.com: Canton tops Ann Arbor Pioneer

> Battle Creek Enquirer: Pennfield makes regional appearance

> Bay City Times: Bangor John Glenn grinds out double OT win over Holland Christian

> Bay City Times: Memphis downs Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker

> Detroit Free Press: Novi tops Fraser

> Detroit News: Canton, Plymouth to meet for regional title

> Detroit News: Troy ousts Grosse Pointe South

> Flint Journal: Flint Powers Catholic falls to Frankenmuth

> Flint Journal: Lapeer East beats Warren Regina

> Grand Rapids Press: East Kentwood falls to No. 1 Portage Central

> Grand Rapids Press: Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern eliminates Fruitport

> Grand Rapids Press: St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic tops Wyoming Tri-Unity Christian

> Holland Sentinel: Holland Christian falls in second overtime

> Jackson Citizen Patroit: Parma Western falls to DeWitt

> Kalamazoo Gazette: Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central pounds Quincy

> Kalamazoo Gazette: Plainwell rolls to 19th straight win

> Kalamazoo Gazette: Portage Central’s Natalie Hall scores game-winner after dislocating shoulder

> Lansing State Journal: Haslett bows to Bloomfield Hills Marian

> Macomb Daily: Fraser falls to No. 3 Novi

> Macomb Daily: Memphis reaches regional final

> Macomb Daily: Richmond falls to Montrose

> Midland Daily News: Midland Dow, Rochester Adams game rescheduled

> Muskegon Chronicle: Fruitport falls to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern

> Muskegon Chronicle: Maple City Glen Lake eliminates Hart

> Muskegon Chronicle: Muskegon Oakridge advances with 3-1 win over Cheboygan

> Oakland Press: Berkley’s season ends in Ann Arbor

> Oakland Press: Novi advances with win over Fraser

> Oakland Press: Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes advances

> Petoskey News: Charlevoix falls to Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian

> Port Huron Times Herald: Memphis to vie for regional crown

> Port Huron Times Herald: Richmond can’t cash in on chances

> Saginaw News: Frankenmuth eliminates Flint Powers Catholic

> Saginaw News: Freeland tops Richmond

> Sturgis Journal: Plainwell tops Three Rivers

Madison Heights Bishop Foley continued their hot start sweeping a baseball doubleheader Tuesday over Catholic High School League C-D Division foe Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 6-3 and 12-2.

The Ventures improve to 9-3 on the young season. Jeff Schalk got the win in the opener, striking out seven. Daniel Zuchowski had a single, triple, home run and two RBI in game one. Zuchowski picked up the win on the mound in game two, striking out seven. Brad Schalk had a double and two RBI in the six-inning nightcap.

Bishop Foley looks to make a run at their first-ever CHSL C-D baseball title with only three seniors graduated from last year’s team.

Notre Dame Prep falls to 3-7 on the year.

Guiding Young Ladies on the Path to Success

Tuesday, June 8 l Monday, June 7 l Sunday, June 6 l Saturday, June 5 l Friday, June 4 l Thursday, June 3 l Wednesday, June 2 l Email the publisher l Request a glossy reprint of today's edition

TRENTON

ANN ARBOR

TRENTON

MONTROSE

Montrose High School
Montrose, MI

MHSAA girls soccer regional playoffs: Ann Arbor Greenhills upsets Berkley; Livonia Ladywood; Frankenmuth downs Flint Powers Catholic; Novi tops Fraser

Sluggish start dooms Flint Powers in girls soccer regional semifinal as Frankenmuth takes 1-0 decision

Flint Journal -- Flint Powers Catholic’s girls soccer team made its earliest exit from the postseason in 11 years Tuesday, dropping a 1-0 decision to eighth-ranked Frankenmuth in the Division 3 regional semifinal at Montrose.

The Eagles' Michelle Marolf scored the lone goal on a corner kick just two minutes, 28 seconds into the game. She booted the ball high into the air and it arced back toward Powers' net and dropped in.

Frankenmuth, which has outscored opponents 131-5 this season with 20 shutouts, kept the fifth-ranked Chargers mostly out of sync offensive in the first half.

The second half was a different story with the majority of it played in the Eagles' end. Powers exerted constant pressure on Frankenmuth's net, but could not draw even.

Novi advances to regional final with win over Fraser

STERLING HEIGHTS —

Oakland Press -- For portions of Tuesday’s girls’ regional soccer game, it looked as if Novi would cruise to the Division 1 girls soccer regional finals, but it took a late defensive effort for Novi to advance in a 2-1 victory against Fraser.

The No. 3-ranked Wildcats were considered the favorites and looked that way for most of the second half, holding an edge in possession and quality chances, but a late Fraser goal late made it close in the final minutes.

Novi (18-2-2) advances to Friday’s regional, where it will face Troy. The Colts were a 1-0 winner over Grosse Pointe South in the other regional semifinal.

“We did a lot of good things in the second half,” Novi coach Brian O’Leary said. “Teams aren’t going to go down without a fight ... There’s always that flurry at the end of every state tournament, and you’ve got to be ready for it.”

After neither team created many chances early in the game, Novi turned to junior forward Nicki Caruso for offense, and she delivered.

Caruso scored with 14:30 left in the first half when she kicked in Morgan Haffey’s pass from the corner to put Novi ahead, 1-0.

With Novi threatening to score early in the second, Caruso struck again early to put Novi ahead, 2-0.

Ann Arbor

Photo: AnnArbor.com

Madison Heights Bishop Foley's Kyla Cross and Ann Arbor Greenhills' Tess Robertson and fight for the ball during Foley’s 2-1 win on Tuesday.

AnnArbor.com -- For the third straight year, the Ann Arbor Greenhills School girls soccer team's season ended with a one-goal loss to Madison Heights Bishop Foley.

The Ventures scored on a penalty kick in the 72nd minute for a 2-1 Division 4 regional semifinal win at Huron High School's Riverbank Stadium on Tuesday night.

Bishop Foley beat the Gryphons in the regional finals each of the past two seasons.

"They had every right to have that revenge factor going for them, and we knew that," said Bishop Foley coach Aaron Miller. "And we came into the game knowing they were coming after us because we beat them two years in a row."

The evenly-played game was contested primarily in the midfield for much of the first half, with few scoring chances.

But when Bishop Foley (11-8-2) leading scorer Kyla Cross got an opportunity in the 35th minute, she didn't miss. With a Greenhills (10-4-1) defender on her hip, Cross spun and unleashed a solid shot from 20 yards out.

Greenhills goalkeeper Maddie Hutchinson went horizontal to get her fingertips on the shot, but it riccocheted off a post and into the net for a 1-0 Ventures lead.

Trenton

Diaper dandies!

Flesher goal, Norris shutout puts Skyline through to regional final

Don’t let the baby blue uniforms fool you. These youngsters play well beyond their years.

Featuring a lineup of only freshmen and sophomores, two-year-old Ann Arbor Skyline downed a much more experienced Berkley squad 1-0 to win its Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 2 girls soccer regional semifinal, Tuesday, June 8.

Skyline improved to 9-2-2 on the season and moves on to face Livonia Ladywood in the Region 6 final on Saturday, June 12, at 7 p.m. at Trenton.

Ladywood beat Riverview 4-1 in their semifinal.

Berkley controlled most of the first half, outshooting Skyline 4-1, but they couldn’t find the back of the net.

The game’s momentum took a dramatic switch with 32 minutes left in the second half.

Berkley senior Natalie Zimmerman blasted a shot on net which bounced off Skyline freshman goalie Victoria Norris. Berkley’s Katie Murphy ran into Norris attempting to kick in the rebound, sending both to the grass. With the ball spinning inches from the goal line, Murphy was about to kick the ball in from the ground when Skyline freshman defender Justine Jahnke came out of nowhere to kick the ball out of bounds to save the goal.

Less than two minutes later, Skyline freshman Carmen Flesher broke the tie with a power shot from close range for the eventual game-winner.

Norris and the stellar, physical Skyline defense did the rest, turning back Berkley’s every scoring opportunity.

Skyline beat Chelsea 3-1 on Friday, June 5, to earn the school’s first-ever district title in any sport.

Berkley (11-6-5) won their district title 2-1 in a shootout over Madison Heights Lamphere.

Ann Arbor Skyline 3 - Chelsea 1

Berkley 2 - Madison Hts. Lamphere 1 (SO)
District 23-2. Berkley wins in SO (3-1).

The Eagles’ freshman midfielder dribbled in with one defender on her hip, made a move toward the center of the field and before a second defender could step in, blasted a shot from close range that slipped between goalkeeper Julie Shields and the near post to Shields’ left with 30 minutes and 31 seconds to play.

Berkley senior Natalie Zimmerman uncorked the hardest shot on net to that point, which Skyline goalkeeper Victoria Norris blocked but didn’t catch. Bears forward Katie Murphy collided with Norris going for the rebound, and, for a moment, the ball spun in place untouched, inches from the goal line.

In the 50th minute, Carmen Flesher broke the scoreless tie. Flesher received the ball near half on the left side, beat her defender on the outside, cut to the middle near the penalty box and curved a right footed shot to the right side-netting as two defenders crashed on her from both sides.

"It happened so fast, you just don't even think about it, it's just instinct. You keep going

to the goal," Flesher said. "It's the one thing you're going for and you don't stop ‘til you get there."

Norris had six saves in the second half, but it was Jahnke who had the save of the night.

After stopping an initial shot on a one-on-one, Norris collided with Berkley's Katie Murphy going for the rebound. Murphy put the ball on net, but Jahnke tracked back and cleared the ball from the mouth of the goal just as it was about to cross the end line.

It was a rare breakdown in the Skyline backline of Justine Jahnke, Emily Anderson and Lauren Halpern, which kept Zimmerman and company in check all night.

Eight straight years Skyline High School girls soccer coach Chris Morgan coached in regional games. As the head coach at cross-town Pioneer, teams under Morgan's tutelage won districts, and sometimes more, from 1998 through 2005.

After Skyline defeatedBerkley 1-0 in its MHSAA Division 2 regional semifinal at Trenton High School on Tuesday, Morgan said the feeling was incomparable.

"This surpasses any win I had at Pioneer. ... Those girls, we were supposed to win. We had studs, seniors that were going on to be Division I college players," Morgan said of his days at Pioneer. "I have freshman and sophomores. It's amazing, absolutely amazing. Some are just 14 years old, going up against 18 year olds. It's incredible."

Berkley had all the scoring opportunities in the first half, outshoot Skyline (9-2-2) four to one, though only one shot was on goal, which Victoria Norris easily saved.

The Bears' best opportunity came off of a free kick, when Lindsey Lubanski sent a chip to Natalie Zimmerman who beat her two defenders after cleanly receiving the ball, but sailed her shot well high.

It was a rare breakdown in the Skyline backline of Justine Jahnke, Emily Anderson and Lauren Halpern, which kept Zimmerman and company in check all night.

"We knew they had a frontrunner up top that was dangerous, Zimmerman, we were well aware of her so we wanted to make sure we had two defenders on her, she still got her opportunities, but we did a good job of limiting that," Morgan said. "As a whole, our defense, we've lived on them."

In the 50th minute, Carmen Flesher broke the scoreless tie. Flesher received the ball near half on the left side, beat her defender on the outside, cut to the middle near the penalty box and curved a right footed shot to the right side-netting as two defenders crashed on her from both sides.

"It happened so fast, you just don't even think about it, it's just instinct. You keep going

to the goal," Flesher said. "It's the one thing you're going for and you don't stop ‘til you get there."

Norris had six saves in the second half, but it was Jahnke who had the save of the night.

After stopping an initial shot on a one-on-one, Norris collided with Berkley's Katie Murphy going for the rebound. Murphy put the ball on net, but Jahnke tracked back and cleared the ball from the mouth of the goal just as it was about to cross the end line.

Zimmerman had one last shot from just inside the penalty area with under a minute to play, but Norris didn't surrender a rebound this time around.

"We couldn't finish, had a couple of really good chances that we couldn't put it in the back of the net, and we just couldn't finish," said Berkley coach Cliff Brandmier. "Been kind of an Achilles heel for us all year."

Morgan thought his girls looked scared in the first half, but it was clear that wasn't the case in the second. As Livonia Ladywood and Riverview warmed up to play in the second semifinal of the night, Norris didn't much care who the Eagles' opponent for the finals would be (Ladywood won, 4-1, setting up Saturday's 7 p.m. championship game).

"I don't even know who's playing," Norris said, glancing over her shoulder, then looking back with a smile. "Next team is next victim."

Berkley's season ends in Ann Arbor

By RYAN PRETZER

For The Oakland Press

ANN ARBOR — In few sports can scrappy overcome skill as it does in soccer.

Nothing illustrated that more poignantly than the 1-0 defeat that ended the Berkley girls’ soccer season Tuesday in the Division 2 regional semifinals.

The senior-laden Bears played with confidence and cool for 50 minutes, and then, just moments after coming inches from a goal, saw Ann Arbor Skyline’s Carmen Flesher put the game’s only score on the board.

Being good — maybe even better — wasn’t enough for Berkley, which had several promising scoring chances in the final minutes.

“They’re so scrappy, they just worked so hard,” Berkley coach Cliff Brandmier said of Skyline, a school in its second year of existence and fielding a team exclusively of freshmen and sophomores.

“I definitely liked the way we were playing. I thought we played a better brand, but (Skyline) worked and didn’t give up, and that’s what the benefit was.

Berkley kept the action on Skyline’s half of the field at the outset. When the rain picked up about seven minutes into the second half, so did the action.

Berkley senior Natalie Zimmerman uncorked the hardest shot on net to that point, which Skyline goalkeeper Victoria Norris blocked but didn’t catch. Bears forward Katie Murphy collided with Norris going for the rebound, and, for a moment, the ball spun in place untouched, inches from the goal line.

“I thought it was in, to be honest,” Brandmier said, “and then I got excited, and then I realized they cleared it off and I was like, ‘Oh, no.’”

The Bears seemed on the cusp of taking command. No more than three minutes later, Flesher would score the goal that would end their season.

The Eagles’ freshman midfielder dribbled in with one defender on her hip, made a move toward the center of the field and before a second defender could step in, blasted a shot from close range that slipped between goalkeeper Julie Shields and the near post to Shields’ left with 30 minutes and 31 seconds to play.

“It seems to happen that way, right?” Brandmier said. “You press, you press, you do really well keeping it in (the opponent's zone) and then it’s one counterattack and that’s all it takes, especially in regionals.”

The Bears, who overcame a 1-0 deficit to win the district championship Saturday, kept the heat on Skyline until the very end. Sophomore forward Karsyn Baker dribbled through the Eagles’ defense and delivered a pass to Zimmerman, who rocketed a shot that was caught by Norris with 31 seconds left.

“We were just fighting for it. We put it all out there and unfortunately we couldn’t get one but we worked out butts off,” senior midfielder Lindsey Lubankski said. “It is what it is.”

What it is, for Brandmier, is having to say goodbye to the senior class he began building the program around when he took the job three years ago.

In an emotional postgame huddle, Brandmier told the team, “not to let this moment overtake everything that was so special this year,” which included winning the district title in a shootout Saturday. He called the 2-1 win over Madison Heights Lamphere, “the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of.”

A couple of Berkley seniors seemed to have found that perspective already.

“We accomplished our goal, which was to win districts,” Zimmerman said. “That was like our main goal all season long, and so the fact that we actually accomplished that was nice.”

The Bears went 11-6-5 with a schedule that — in the final regular-season rankings on Michigansoccer.net — included three teams ranked in the top 10 of Division 1, and a fourth honorable mention D1 team.

“We played a ridiculously hard schedule — ” Lubanksi said.

“— and we kept up with all of them,” Zimmerman interjected.

Brandmier has two juniors and seven sophomores returning in 2011, a promising core that he knows benefited from playing with seniors like Lubanksi and Zimmerman.

He benefited, too.

“Shoot, you’re going to make me cry again,” he said. “They’ve brought the program from basically nothing all the way into the top 10 in the state, brought me from being a regular old coach to doing it for a living.

"They’ve done a lot for the school, the program, they’ve given a lot of the younger girls the confidence. It’s unbelievable. I’m really impressed with them.”

Livonia Ladywood advanced to the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 2 Region 6 girls soccer final with a dominating 4-1 win over Riverview Tuesday, June 8.

Ladywood will face upstart Ann Arbor Skyline in the regional final on Saturday, June 12, at 7 p.m. Skyline upset Berkley 1-0 in their regional semifinal.

Freshman Domenique Sarnecky, sophomore Kelly Capoccia, freshman Catherine Garber, and senior Shea McParlane scored for Ladywood . Junior Maddie Reed got the win in goal. The Blazers improved to 13-4-4.

Ladywood won their district title on Saturday, June 5, beating Dearborn Divine Child 3-0.

Riverview finishes their best season in school history at 18-3-3. Coming into the game, Riverview had outscored opponents 89-12 during the season.

Ann Arbor Skyline 3 - Chelsea 1

Berkley 2 - Madison Hts. Lamphere 1 (SO)
District 23-2. Berkley wins in SO (3-1).

The Skyline High School girls soccer team has heard it all this season. From being dismissed as a junior varsity team to being told by one opponent that they need to change their diapers.

Now, there’s something else people can call the young group of Eagles: District champions.

Freshman Lauren Halpern scored two goals and Skyline frustrated Chelsea defensively throughout Saturday’s 3-1 win in a Division 2 district championship game Saturday at Chelsea.

“It’s a huge deal because we’re a new school and we were the underdogs,” Halpern said. “We’re only freshmen and sophomores and they have seniors, so we’re not expected to win.”

Skyline coach Chris Morgan said he did expect his team to be in a position to win a district title in just its second year of existence. And now? Who knows?

“This really raises expectations and sets the bar so high,” said Skyline coach Chris Morgan. “For these girls that we have coming in next year, they know what’s expected of them. … We will be an impact team.”

Halpern opened the scoring at the midway point of the first half, but Chelsea quickly answered with an Anna Rode goal just 82 seconds later. It was like déjà vu for the Eagles, who took an early lead but soon relinquished it in a 1-1 tie to the Bulldogs during the regular season.

But the Eagles finished what they started this time around.

Carmen Flesher scored the eventual game winner on set piece in the final three minutes of the first half for a 2-1 halftime lead and Halpern added an insurance goal midway through the second half, knocking in a rebound for a 3-1 lead.

“I was just pushing really hard and trying to be in the right position so that when people passed it I could get it in,” Halpern said.

Chelsea coach Kirsten Smart said her team came up on the short end of a clash of styles.

“(Skyline) is a very direct and physical team and we’re used to playing with possession,” she said. “That was hard to do with their defense because they’re very athletic, very fast and able to send the ball very far.”

DIVISION 2
at Trenton High School
Tuesday: Skyline vs. Berkley, 5:30 p.m.; Livonia Ladywood vs. Riverview, 7 p.m.
Saturday: Final, 7 p.m.

If anybody is thinking regional play is just icing on the cake for a Skyline (8-2-2) team that won the first team district trophy in school history, they should think again. “We’re still very hungry,” Morgan says. “We have been since we really, truly started to believe in ourselves.”

That came after a 1-1 regular season tie with state-ranked Chelsea and was only strengthened after beating those same Bulldogs, 3-1, in a district title game. Berkley (10-5-5) is an honorable mention in the latest coaches' poll. Ladywood (12-4-4) and