Slanger Stars in Net as Rockford Caps 1st Finals Run with 1st Championship
By
Brian Freiberger
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2026
EAST LANSING – Rockford – playing in its first MHSAA Final in girls soccer Friday – finally broke through a vaunted Troy defense during the second half to earn its first championship with a 2-0 win over the Colts at DeMartin Stadium.
“Our word this year is relentless. We're so proud of them. Troy was well coached and organized. They played a formation that we didn't see very much,” Rockford coach Stu Quackenbush said. “Troy won the first half and the girls were frustrated, but at halftime, the seniors stepped up. They said the right things. We were having a hard time winning first and second balls, and the seniors did a great job of helping players understand that. Then they bought into different roles. … They were confident in each other, confident in their abilities to make adjustments.”
Both senior-led teams left it all out on the field with everything on the line. Rockford had 16 seniors, while Troy competed with nine.
Both teams had plenty of chances to find the back of the net in the first half, but quality defensive lines and solid goalkeeper play kept the score 0-0 going into the break.
Rockford (21-2) and Troy (16-4-2) wouldn’t separate until midway through the second half when senior forward Isla Brown found the back of the net thanks to a centering pass from Sawyer Lenon to take a 1-0 lead with 17 minutes remaining.
“This means so much to me. We’ve been working hard for the past four years to bring a state championship home,” Brown said.
Troy would not back down, nearly scoring multiple times, but the Rams defense and goalkeeper Kaia Slanger wouldn’t let it happen.
“I was just thinking that we got the ball, but we need to stay locked in. Anything can happen,” Slanger said. “It feels really awesome to win a state championship. This shows that all of our hard work led up to this, and we deserved it. I love every single one of those girls. We’ve been playing together for so long, and we are a family. It's gonna be hard to leave this.”
Quackenbush credited Slanger with having the best game of her career.
“(Slanger) played the best game of her life. It's a great time to choose to do that at the state championship. I couldn't be more proud of the kid. We had some question marks going into the year at goalkeeper. … (Slanger) is the player we needed today, and she was confident, she was brave, and the girls are so proud of her,” Quackenbush said.
After a Colts scoring chance, Rockford got on the run with time running out and sent a ball deep in the Colts' zone where senior captain Sydney DeKuiper found Amelia Chapin for the second goal with fewer than two minutes remaining.
The Colts (16-4-2) held the Rams' potent offense in check for most of the night, besides a few lapses during the evenly-matched game.
“Sometimes that's the cruel reality of the game. The ball doesn't always bounce your way. Rockford had a good game plan. They knew what they were getting themselves into. We knew what we were getting ourselves into, and we knew it was just going to be a heavyweight battle,” Troy coach Tony Casali said. “It's not the trophy we wanted, but there are 110 D1 teams, and there are two teams left standing today. It's definitely an honor to be out here. It's an honor to coach those girls.”
Casali, along with his senior-heavy roster, catapulted the Colts to their first championship game since 2013.
“This is my first year coaching (at Troy), so I didn't have a chance to get to know these seniors as freshmen coming in,” Casali said. “But what I did get the chance to get to know is the commitment they have, the resiliency they have. These girls have laid a big foundation.”
PHOTOS (Top) Rockford goalkeeper Kaia Slanger, far left, makes a stop as Troy and Rockford players pursue the ball Friday at DeMartin Stadium. (Middle) Troy’s Kaylee Worrell (6) controls the ball while Rockford’s Rylan Potter attempts to take possession. (Below) The Rams celebrate their championship win. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
New Heroes Bring Unity Christian Repeat Result in Finals Rematch
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
June 15, 2024
EAST LANSING – There were plenty of new faces on the field this season for the Hudsonville Unity Christian girls soccer team, but the result ended up being very familiar.
The Crusaders claimed their second-straight Division 3 Finals title Saturday at DeMartin Stadium, and for the second-straight year did so with a 3-0 victory over Grosse Ile.
“We had 12 seniors graduate last year from that state title team, and I think 15 kids total that didn’t return,” Unity Christian coach Randy Heethuis said. “The kids that came back, it was a good solid core, and they did a good job of leading us back here the entire year. The youngsters, they came along. Pretty much every challenge that we threw at them – we had a tough schedule – they answered the bell.”
It was the 12th title for Heethuis and the Unity Christian program, tying Madison Heights Bishop Foley for most in the sport’s history.
“I feel like it’s very good for our school,” said junior forward Ava Lutke. “We worked really hard to get here. Every year is a new year, but we work our butts off to get to the state finals and to win, so it’s really good.”
Also really good? Lutke. The Michigan State commit had a goal and two assists for the Crusaders on her future home field. She totaled 11 shots, with six on frame against Grosse Ile keeper Monica Arndt.
As Heethuis talked about many options he had while putting his team together this season, he was asked what part of that was Lutke.
“Many pieces,” he said with a smile. “And to her credit, too, she struggled a little bit early in the year. But she played different positions. I think she prefers to play up top, which she did probably three-fourths of the time today, but we played her in the midfield, she does great there. A couple times she even went back into more of a holding, defensive center mid spot – she’s just a gamer. She’s extremely competitive and wants to do whatever she can to help the team win. That’s a credit to her.”
Lutke set up Unity Christian’s first goal, taking a ball down the wing and turning it inside, which drew three Grosse Ile defenders toward her. She found the supporting run of Emma Vruggink in the box, and Vruggink smashed the ball into the open net 14 minutes, 27 seconds into the first half.
Unity Christian (22-1-1) consistently put pressure on the Grosse Ile defense, pinning the Red Devils back into their own end for much of the game. But between Arndt, who had 12 saves, and some timely defending, the score remained 1-0 through the first 10 minutes of the second half.
At that point, however, Unity Christian found some cracks and scored a pair of goals in less than two minutes.
The first came when Lutke jumped on a loose ball near the top of the box and slotted it inside the post. Several passes led to the build-up of the goal, with Addi Pell pushing it in Lutke’s direction. On the way there, it took a glance off a Grosse Ile defender, falling right into Lutke’s path.
Tessa Ponstein scored 1 minute, 43 seconds later, with a curling left-footed shot from outside the box that found the opposite corner. Lutke had the assist on that goal.
Grosse Ile coach Kyle Lesperance said that while he felt his team was able to create a little more than it did a year ago against Unity Christian, the Red Devils (17-3-5) were still facing an uphill battle.
“They’re just so dangerous. They’re so fast-paced,” Lesperance said. “They’re technical on the ball, they’re very well-coached in their positions and off-the-ball movements. They’re a beast in this division.”
And this version of Unity Christian wasn’t even at full strength. Senior forward Vivian Nagelkirk, who led the team in scoring this season, injured her ankle in the Semifinal win against Freeland and had to be helped off the field.
She started Saturday, though, and while clearly laboring at times, was pushing the ball up the field until she was finally subbed off in the final 10 minutes.
“To be honest, I knew I was going to play,” she said. “I wasn’t going to sit out. When it happened right away, I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t think I’m going to play.’ But then I was like, “There’s no way I’m sitting out of this thing.’ So we just wrapped it up really tight, and we played.”
Nagelkirk finished the game with two of her team’s 32 total shots on the day. Grosse Ile managed three shots, with one testing Unity Christian keeper Anna Newhof, who made the single save required of her.
PHOTOS (Top) Unity Christian celebrates its repeat Division 3 Final win over Grosse Ile on Saturday. (Middle) Grosse Ile’s Alaina Korody winds up to send the ball downfield. (Below) Unity’s Emma Vruggink (12) controls possession while Olivia Zuccaro (16) defends.