Calvin Christian Claims 4th Straight Title
June 13, 2015
By Dan Stickradt
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING — Grandville Calvin Christian has joined some elite company.
The top-ranked Squires became just the second girls soccer program to win four straight MHSAA championships by edging Lansing Christian, 2-1, in the MHSAA Division 4 Final at Michigan State University’s DeMartin Stadium.
The record steak is Hudsonville Unity Christian’s six straight championships from 2005-2010. Calvin Christian’s four straight (2012-15) is second, while five more teams have won three straight (Madison Heights Bishop Foley on three occasions).
Calvin Christian also became the 10th program to win four titles total. Bishop Foley’s 12 is the all-time record, while Unity Christian (nine), Birmingham Marian (five), Detroit Country Day (five), Novi (five), Livonia Stevenson (five), Kalamazoo Christian (four), Richland Gull Lake (four) and Troy Athens (four) are also a part of the elite club.
“It’s an amazing accomplishment and a credit to the seniors every year for leading us,” said Calvin Christian coach Tim TerHaar, who has chalked up an impressive 256-64-20 record spanning 15 seasons. “We didn’t really talk about it (winning four in a row), but I know it was in the backs of their minds. Our seven seniors did a fabulous job leading us all season, keeping us focused and helping us prepare for each game.”
Four seniors on Calvin Christian’s roster — Allison Keizer, Hilary Curry, Emily VanVliet and Morgan Buursma — played on all four championship teams.
“I could never have imagined this,” smiled Curry, a senior midfielder. “You dream of playing in one state championship game and maybe winning one. But four? This is incredible.”
Behind one of the state’s top offenses — Calvin Christian entered Saturday outscoring the opposition 137-11 in 24 games — the Squires didn’t waste anytime in lighting up the scoreboard.
Calvin Christian scored in just the third minute when Curry collected a through ball from fellow midfielder VanVliet, beat a defender at the top of the box and chipped in a shot from 10 yards out with 37:56 still to play in the first half.
After being tripped up on the near touch line, VanVliet’s ensuing long, high serve into the penalty box was flicked on by Curry and into the left corner of the goal with 15:22 remaining. That second goal proved to be the game-winner.
“It is special to score two goals in the finals. But to be honest, it is a team effort. It doesn’t matter who scores,” said Curry, who led the Squires with 30 goals, including a combined six tallies in the Semifinal and Final. “In the back of our minds, we knew we could do this — as a team.”
TerHaar said he never felt safe until the waning seconds.
“The game was played at Lansing Christian’s pace. They are very fast and a lot faster than us,” said TerHaar said. “They gave us a battle. I knew it was going to be a close game.”
It was the second Finals loss for the Pilgrims (20-5-0), the other coming in the 2011 Division 4 championship game, a 2-1 setback to the aforementioned Bishop Foley.
Lansing Christian freshman forward Kasey Jamieson, who entered Saturday with 49 goals, was relatively held in check, although she did ring a shot off the crossbar in the 14th minute and glanced a shot off the outside of the goal post in the 28th minute.
The Pilgrims, who lost in the MHSAA Semifinals last season to Waterford Our Lady, were resilient and kept hanging around the whole 80 minutes.
Lansing Christian senior midfielder Rebecca Hull drilled a penalty kick following a hand ball in the box with 6:10 remaining to trim the deficit to one goal. However, the Pilgrims could not net the equalizer down the stretch.
Calvin Christian outshot Lansing Christian 19-10, including 7-5 with shots directly on goal. Keizer made four saves in goal.
“My biggest worry coming in, to be honest, was that we were going to give up an early goal,” said Lansing Christian coach Joel Vande Kopple. “With the mentality that they are the three-time defending state champions, and if they get an early goal on us our heads could go down and stay there the rest of the game. Thankfully that didn’t happen. We fought hard (the whole game) and if one of those shots went in, who knows what would have happened. I’m still extremely proud of them with the way that they played and the type of season that they had.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Calvin Christian’s Morgan Buursma (10) and Lansing Christian’s Isabel Bustamante chase after the ball during the Division 4 Final. (Middle) Calvin Christian celebrates its fourth straight MHSAA title.
Hudsonville Unity Christian Adds to Era of Dominance - This Time in Division 2
By
Drew Ellis
Special for MHSAA.com
June 13, 2025
EAST LANSING – The MHSAA girls soccer record book needs some editing.
Hudsonville Unity Christian won its 13th Final on Friday at DeMartin Soccer Complex on the campus of Michigan State University, clinching with a 7-0 defeat of New Boston Huron.
The win broke Unity Christian’s tie with Madison Heights Bishop Foley for the most girls soccer titles of any program in the state, as each had 12 championships prior to Friday.
“I think the thing I am probably the proudest of for the kids is the consistency,” 36-year Unity Christian coach Randy Heethuis said. “They know if they do little things, it allows big things to happen. That is something that we have been preaching now for 20-plus years. We get kids who buy-in to the program and want to be part of it, and just want to end their season (at the Final), quite frankly.”
Appearing in its 17th MHSAA Final, which tied Bishop Foley for most-ever by a program, the Crusaders also became the 19th team in MHSAA history to finish a season undefeated (22-0-2).
While Friday marked the third consecutive championship, it was the first time Unity Christian claimed the top prize in Division 2. The previous 12 titles were all in Division 3.
“It’s not something that we really talked about. At the beginning of the year, we had some parents asking what that was going to be like. We don’t care what division we are in, we just want to come out and play soccer,” Heethuis said. “On any given day I think we are good enough that we can compete with anybody. We showed that day-in and day-out over the course of the season.”
Unity Christian put on the pressure from the start of the match. It dominated possession, resulting in 19 first-half shots. However, the Crusaders were able to put only four on goal.
The opening score finally came for the Crusaders in the 37th minute of play when senior Ava Lutke took a corner kick and it got through to the head of junior Tessa Ponstein, who found the net for her 15th goal of the season, making it 1-0.
“We had the corner and (Lutke) played a perfect ball to me, and it just came straight to my head,” Ponstein said. “I just knew to hit it where you want it to go … just get it in that goal. It was a great feeling.”
Ponstein got the assist on the second Unity Christian goal. Off a free kick, she found the head of junior Addison Pell, whose attempt trickled past the New Boston Huron defense for a score with 28 minutes to play. That made it 2-0 for the Crusaders.
The Chiefs would find themselves down a player after a second yellow card midway through the half, which sparked the five-goal rally during the final stretch of the game.
Lutke got a goal of her own with 18 minutes to play as she put in a header off a header pass from junior Tessa Nagelkirk. It was Lutke’s 29th goal of the season. That would be the first of three goals for the Crusaders over a span of 2:33.
“I saw the ball bobbling around and as I saw Tessa Nagelkirk coming into to get the header, I knew there was a chance of it getting in behind, so I just saw the opportunity to run in on it,” Lutke said. “It was there, so I got my head on it and put it past the keeper.”
Ponstein passed up a look at the net for herself to feed sophomore Kyla Kobrzycki for a goal with 16:46 remaining to make it 4-0.
“She’s been working hard too, and I felt like she had a better angle than I did,” Ponstein said of feeding Kobrzycki. “She’s earned (the goal).”
Freshman Olivia Walters then had a shot attempt hit the crossbar, only to find her foot for a putback score with 15:59 on the clock.
Sophomore Myla Obande and freshman Lauren Prins also found the net for the Crusaders during the closing minutes of the contest.
The scoring overshadowed another dominant defensive performance for Unity Christian, led by juniors Avery Dekker and Ava Steen, as well as sophomore Karli Rose. They allowed keepers Payton Barendsen and Kennidee Crump to earn a shutout without making a save.
Friday’s shutout marked the 18th consecutive postseason shutout for the Crusaders, as they outscored opponents in the playoffs this year, 22-0.
“That’s one of the things I am most proud about,” Heethuis said of the postseason shutouts. “Obviously, stats and offense get a lot of the accolades, but you go 18 tournament games without giving up a goal, that doesn’t just happen by chance. That’s the equivalent of going an entire season and not giving up a goal. That’s something we are extremely proud about.”
New Boston Huron junior keeper Brooklyn Burke led the Chiefs with nine saves, as she made some athletic plays to keep the Crusaders from scoring more. Altogether, Unity Christian finished with 36 shots in the match.
The Chiefs lost just two times in 2025, both to unbeaten teams in Unity Christian and Division 1 finalist Saline. The 21-2-1 final record and first Finals appearance is a big step for a program that was only 5-7-3 in 2023.
“I’ve been wanting for a while to have the girls side of our program (get to this level). We’ve always had the talent on this side. Everything has been going really well,” New Boston Huron coach Matt Lividini said. “Obviously, today didn’t go in our favor. There’s going to be a winner and there’s going to be a loser. Super excited with what we’ve done. Just three losses in the last two years.”
This marks the third time that Unity Christian has had a run of three consecutive MHSAA championships. The Crusaders won six straight from 2005-10, three straight from 2014-16, and now the 2023-25 run.
Heethuis upped his career win total to 664 games, 135 ahead of the field for most in MHSAA history.
PHOTOS (Top) Hudsonville Unity Christian's Ava Lutke (15), Tessa Ponstein (22) and Olivia Walters (11) celebrate during their Division 3 championship win Saturday. (Middle) New Boston Huron's Rylie Cassette (8) winds up to send the ball downfield with Unity Christian's Ava Steen (5) in pursuit. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)