Skyline Soars to Championship Height
November 2, 2013
By Greg Chrapek
Special to Second Half
TROY – When looking for the blue print to build a high school soccer program, Ann Arbor Skyline coach Chris Morgan would be the man to see.
In four years, Morgan guided Skyline from a team with no seniors that won eight games to the summit of soccer excellence in the state of Michigan.
Morgan and his Skyline team reached the pinnacle Saturday when the Eagles defeated Bloomfield Hills 1-0 to win the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship at Troy Athens High School.
“Every year we took a step in the right direction,” Morgan said, “and this is the coronation.”
To win its first title, Skyline needed a combination of strong defense and a timely goal as the Final was a defensive struggle from start to finish with scoring opportunities few and far between.
Senior Josh Carn-Saferstein is one of the leaders of the Skyine defense and one of seven seniors who were on the school’s first varsity as freshmen and have witnessed the program’s steady rise.
“This is just an amazing feeling,” Carn-Saferstein said. “I was one of the freshmen on the varsity the first year we had a team. We just had juniors, sophomores and freshmen that year. I think it took a little time for our program to find its identity.
“The players change but all of coaches stress the same things, and this year we all made it happen.”
The shutout was the third of the postseason for Skyline, which allowed a total of four goals in its seven tournament games.
The defensive tone was set during the first half as the teams produced just one scoring opportunity apiece.
Skyline opened the second half with a pair of scoring chances. Junior Alec Lasinski, who led the team with 32 goals this season, almost broke the deadlock when he came in on a breakaway – only to be stopped by Bloomfield Hills keeper Griffin Hamel.
Moments later Skyline’s Nick Russo sent a hard shot just over the crossbar.
Bloomfield Hills’ best scoring opportunity came with 22 minutes remaining, but Alex Joneson had his free kick caught by Skyline goalkeeper Cameron Lekas.
The scoring drought finally came to an end with 19:13 remaining. Lasinski and Lawrence Mullen worked a two-man game in front of the Bloomfield Hills goal. A hand ball was called, and Mullen was tabbed by Morgan to take the penalty kick.
Mullen sent a hard shot low on the ground and with just enough juice to make it past the keeper for what proved to be the game-wining goal.
“We have three players who can step up and take the penalty kick, and I am comfortable with all three,” Morgan said. “I picked Lawrence, and I knew he would do fine. He strikes a mean ball. We knew he would go hard and place the ball well.”
Mullen did just that and the result was all Skyline needed to grab the lead.
“I just concentrated on placement,” Mullen said. “It was pretty scary. I hit a hard shot, and I thought the goalie got a hand on it. But it made it in.”
Mullen also had all the confidence of his teammates.
“When Coach had Lawrence take it, I knew he would make it,” Lasinski said. “The penalty was called on me so I knew I couldn’t take the shot. That is what coach said. Lawrence is an amazing player, and I had faith in him. The whole team had faith in him.”
With the lead, the Eagles turned the game over to its defensive unit even more. The Skyline defense did the job, as Bloomfield Hills was unable to get a high-quality shot on goal.
For Bloomfield Hills, in its first season as the school opened this fall (after a merger by Lahser and Andover), the loss ended a strong defensive run of its own during this year’s tournament.
“We gave it everything we had,” Black Hawks coach Dougie Macaulay said. “We never gave them a clear-cut chance.”
Penalty kicks proved to be one of the few ways teams were able to put the ball in the net against Bloomfield Hills this postseason.
“I’m very proud of my team,” Macaulay said. “We gave up only one goal in open play in seven playoff games. Two of the other goals we gave up were on penalty kicks. I’m very, very proud of the boys, and we had a fantastic season.”
The Black Hawks also had to play most of the match without standout defensive player Jahza Klochco-Koo, who left with an injury in the first half and did not return.
With the win, Skyline ended the season 21-1-5. After winning its first District title in boys soccer last year, the Eagles completed the final two steps and clinched the school’s first MHSAA Finals title in any sport.
“This is just amazing,” Lasinski said. “It feels amazing. To have all of our fans here and supporting us, this is very special.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Ann Arbor Skyline players celebrate their first MHSAA championship in any sport. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.) (Middle) Skyline’s Alec Lasinski (9) battles Bloomfield Hills’ Trevor Drew for the ball Saturday. (Middle photo by Terry McNamara Photography.)
Several Northern Michigan Hopefuls Setting Up for Potential Postseason Success
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
September 9, 2022
Not a whole lot is changing — yet — in the Big North, Northwest and Lake Michigan soccer conferences this year.
Traverse City Christian, an independent, is taking on schools from all three and wants a different District result to get back to Regionals this fall. And, perhaps surprisingly, Kalkaska is looking to change things too.
Traverse City West, Elk Rapids and Christian loaded up their early season with strong nonconference competition. Nothing new. And Leland and Buckley, fast becoming arguably the biggest rivals in northern Michigan, did the best they could to schedule nonconference competition aimed at leading to yet another deep postseason run.
Of course West and Elk Rapids have their eyes on the postseason — again — as well.
West, coming off its annual Labor Day weekend tournament hosting Grand Haven, Midland Dow and Mason, is off to a 6-1 start, posting shutouts in its first four contests. Christian is 5-1-1.
Elk Rapids is off to a 2-5-1 start. That’s not a misprint.
And, by the way, Kalkaska is undefeated in regulation in its first six games.
That’s not an error either. Third-year coach David Wagner has his Blazers playing well and has seen some stellar goaltending by junior Kayden Dueweke-Gonzales. A shootout loss is the only blemish.
Wagner is hoping his team can pick up more wins than has been the case for some time for the Blazers in the Lake Michigan Conference.
“I think we will be much more competitive than we were last year,” Wagner said of the Blazers, who are 5-1 overall and 2-0 in Lake Michigan play.
Nate Plum, now is his 15th year at the helm of Elk Rapids, is not overly concerned about his team’s win-loss record at this moment. He’s more concerned with the Elks learning from their experiences and hopes he will see stronger competition in the Lake Michigan Conference this year from teams like Kalkaska.
Despite what many would call a slow start, the Elks are still rated among the state’s top Division 3 soccer teams and are drawing the attention of the soccer community across the state.
Elk Rapids has made many postseason runs under Plum, who came into this fall with a 241-102-33 record as the Elks coach. Elk Rapids reached the Division 3 Semifinals last season before losing a shootout to the eventual champion, Grand Rapids South Christian. The Elks also reached the Semifinals in 2020, falling to South Christian. Elk Rapids has won four straight District titles, the last two in part because of one-goal and shootout wins over TC Christian.
The Elks prioritize playing teams like they may see at the end of the season, allowing the competition and conditions to force improvements. Teams are getting stronger in the Lake Michigan Conference, Plum is excited to note, but Elk Rapids hasn’t lost a league game in five years.
So the Elks have looked for opportunities to play on turf and tough environments like TC West and East Grand Rapids.
“The boys would rather be playing in late October than racking up wins now,” Plum said. “I know I’ve got to put them in situations where they have to get better — the only way the boys can get better sometimes is play games we’re not going to have the ball the entire time and they’re going to challenge us and put us in uncomfortable spots.
“When the games really matter at the end of the year and we find ourself in tough situations, we can say, ‘We’ve been in something like this, and we’ve seen it before,’” he continued. “Maybe putting us in those situations are more important to me than wins.”
TC Christian, a long-time regular and postseason opponent of the Elks, has its eyes set on knocking off the Elks in the District this time.
The Sabres are getting closer, but they haven’t made a Regional appearance since 2010. They will host the Elks on Sept. 20.
Roy Jay Montney, who owns a 37-10-3 record with the Sabres, said since they are independent, his program schedules every game with the postseason in mind.
“We are not in a league, so we are thinking of the postseason,” Montney said. “We’re preparing for the postseason each game.”
The coaches share mutual respect.
“Elk Rapids is great program,” Montney said. “They’ve put together a consistent team and program for years.
“They will be strong and they will come out to play, and hopefully we’ll be ready for it.”
Christian is not ready to focus on the Elks yet. They will play Holland, Midland and Traverse City Central before that Sept. 20 meeting on the pitch.
“They’re (Sabres) tough competition, no question about that,” said Plum. “A lot of times I feel the one during the season is a soccer game and the next one is a bunch of emotion.
“Nobody wants to lose come October, and everyone is playing like it’s their last game,” Plum continued. “They have to make it really tough to win the District and you’ve got to give them credit for that.”
The Elks have been led by junior Alex Smith, who has four goals and two assists so far. The Sabres have been led by senior Henry Reineck’s six goals and one assist.
Buckley, coming off its first Northwest Conference championship won last fall, is hoping to repeat but again must get past perennial league champ Leland (2-2-1), which has made many deep postseason runs including to the Division 4 championship in 2018.
Leland reached the Regionals in 2019 and 2020 before suffering a 1-0 District championship loss to Buckley in 2021. Rob Sirrine, now in his second year as the head coach, was an assistant coach for the Comets during those runs.
“We’ve got a really young team this year and are excited to see which underclassmen step up and contribute,” said Sirrine. “Our goal is to make it to Regional Finals at a minimum.
“We’ve had a few solid games and a few lackluster games so far, but it’s early,” he continued. “We’ll be working out the kinks over the next several weeks to be ready for playoffs this year.”
The playoffs will come after home and away games with Buckley in league play. The Bears and Comets are competing in different Division 4 Districts this year. Instead of loading up the nonleague schedule, capturing a league crown is critical to the Bears’ postseason preparation, veteran coach John Vermilya pointed out.
“We haven’t gone to the lengths of like Elk Rapids, TC Christian and Leland,” he said. “They’re always playing the biggest dog they can get.
“We’re trying to get a flavor of what is outside of our conference,” he continued. “We are just trying to win games and get one of the two seeds in District play.”
The Bears are going into a game today with Manistee, a Division 3 team, at 4-3-1. They’ve recently benefited from two Spanish and one Italian exchange student entering the district.
Buckley lost to eventual Division 4 champion Wyoming Potter’s House Christian in a Regional Semifinal last year.
Meanwhile, Traverse City West (6-1) is eying another postseason run and taking on Holland on Saturday. The Titans picked up a win in their conference opener Thursday over Petoskey.
Since taking over the West helm in 2015, Matt Griesinger has guided the Titans to a 123-30-15 record, District championships the last three seasons and Division 1 Finals appearances in 2019 and 2020.
The Titans have won the Big North Conference the last 12 years. Griesinger credits senior goalie Trae Collins for much of the early success this fall. Collins has a goals-against average of 0.81 through seven games.
Petoskey dropped to 6-5 overall with the West loss.
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Elk Rapids' Caden Moore (9) gets his head on the ball during an Aug. 23 game against Petoskey. (2) Keeper Kayden Dueweke-Gonzales leads Kalkaska in its warm up before Thursday’s win over Boyne City. (3) Henry Reineck kicks the ball around during a Traverse City Christian practice. (4) Traverse City West keeper Trae Collins takes a moment during his school’s junior varsity game. (Top photo by Kate Parrish, Kalkaska photo courtesy of the Blazers’ athletic department, and Traverse City Christian and West photos by Tom Spencer.)