TC West Making Homes Away from Home to Lead Tie-Filled Big North Standings

By Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com

May 5, 2023

Almost as many Big North Conference girls soccer games have resulted in ties as wins so far this weather-challenged spring.

Northern Lower PeninsulaAnd, tonight, Petoskey and Traverse City West will play a snow day makeup game that could be the equalizer between wins and ties.

There really is lots of excitement, however, in the Big North. There are two new coaches, Ed Fantozzi at West, and Gregg Supiran at Alpena. Supiran, a longtime assistant at Alpena, succeeded Tim Storch, who is among the winningest coaches in Michigan boys and girls soccer history.

And, hopefully in the fall when the boys take the pitch, West will have its new complex ready for play. If not, the girls team should open it next spring.

West leads the conference at 3-0-1. The tie was at the hands of Gaylord, now 1-1-2. Petoskey enters tonight at 1-0-3. Traverse City Central is 2-1-1. Alpena is 1-2-1 and Cadillac is 1-5-0.

West is coming off a 2-0 win over Cadillac at one of its temporary “home” fields, at the Trojan Athletic Complex. The complex, home of Traverse City Central, opened three years ago after the district’s successful $107-million bond campaign that funded construction. The same bond is funding improvements at West.

West has played most of its home games at Trojans’ complex including a 2-0 win over its rival earlier this spring. A rematch, with Central officially the home team, is scheduled for next week.

Other home games for West, as was the same for the boys last fall, have been played at Keystone County Park, home of Traverse Bay Area Youth Soccer.

The win for West over Central put the Titans in the driver’s seat to repeat as conference champs. Cadillac finished second last year as West’s final-game victory over Petoskey clinched a sixth-straight league title. The Northmen could have garnered a share of the title with a win in that finale. Fantozzi took over the helm from Savanna Wojtanowski, a former West and professional soccer goalkeeper.

Onalee Gustafson (7) moves the ball upfield as the Titans play at Keystone County Park. Sophomore Gwen Allore picked up her third shutout of the season in the win over Cadillac. Fantozzi notes a strong rotating back line has significantly helped the clean sheet total. Sophomore Dillyn Mohr leads the defense and has kicked in three goals pushing up from the back. The other strong defenders are Jenna Rawlin, Sadie Wares, Ahna Campbell, Abbie Carmien and Beatrice Rooks.

Avery Plummer, a freshman, leads the team in scoring so far with seven goals and two assists. Senior Onalee Gustafson has three goals and two assists. Sophomore Raegan LaCross has three goals.

Fantozzi also credits the “super technical skills” of his midfielders Lila Warren and Mia Dungan, both juniors, and seniors Alessia Plombo and Gustafson, for the Titans’ early-season success.

In addition to the Gaylord tie, West was also tied by Elk Rapids, a strong Division 3 contender. The Elks are 11-0-1 going into their match tonight at Cadillac. 

The Titans’ lone loss this year was at the hands of Division 1 No. 6 Troy Athens, 5-0.

Fantozzi already is looking to put the early games behind the team and focus on a deep postseason run he became accustomed to in his last coaching stint at Boyne City.

He led Boyne City to a 2021 Division 3 Final appearance. The Ramblers won three Lake Michigan Conference titles, two Districts, two Regionals and appeared in the Semifinals twice during his five years at Boyne. Fantozzi also won two Lake Michigan Conference titles over five seasons at Harbor Springs.

Fantozzi returned to the sidelines last spring as a volunteer assistant at TC Central. It rekindled the passion he’s had since his playing days at Eastern Michigan University.

“I realized there was more to give,” Fantozzi said of his return. “We have a talented group of girls. 

“The potential to go far in both the postseason and regular season is there,” Fantozzi added. “They definitely have the ability – it is there.”

Getting the team to gel in his first year is key, Fantozzi said. 

Fantozzi huddles with his team at Trojan Athletic Complex, home of neighbor Traverse City Central. “With these girls, the power to believe – which is amazing what it can do – is just getting started,” he said. “You are only going to see them get better.

“You can lose every conference game and still win a state championship … a District championship,” he continued. “My main goal is to play some attractive exciting soccer.”

West’s girls will return to their school field next spring. The boys may get back on a new pitch this fall. The current field is getting a makeover, and a turf practice and playing field is being installed inside the school’s track. Revamped softball and baseball fields with new dugouts and lights also are underway at West.

Central, too, is getting a turf surface within its track, located on the school’s property. The Trojan Athletic Complex is located offsite on what is commonly known as the U.S. Coast Guard base.

The Titans have plenty of questions to answer with their play.

“Do we want to go all the way to the states? Absolutely,” Fantozzi said. “Do we want to finish at the top of the BNC? Yes we do. 

“But I am not going to cry if we don’t.”

West and Central will compete in Division 1 postseason play. Alpena, Gaylord, Cadillac and Petoskey will play in Division 2.

Tom SpencerTom 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) Traverse City West coach Ed Fantozzi talks things over with Raegan LaCross during a game this season. (Middle) Onalee Gustafson (7) moves the ball upfield as the Titans play at Keystone County Park. (Below) Fantozzi huddles with his team at Trojan Athletic Complex, home of neighbor Traverse City Central. (Photos by Tina Rawlin.)

Back Line Comes to Forefront as Byron Center Shuts Down Saline to Lock Up 1st Title

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

June 14, 2025

EAST LANSING – John Conlon praised his Byron Center defensive players Saturday for not just their play, but their selflessness all season.

As the Bulldogs powered through to the Division 1 Final, the backline of Carli Alexander, Ashtyn Stuck, Leah Willey and Jordan Kerns did their jobs, leaving the glory to their teammates further up the field.

But in the biggest game of the season, they went ahead and grabbed some of that glory, too.

Alexander and Stuck combined on the lone goal in Byron Center’s 1-0 victory against Saline at Michigan State University, giving the girls soccer program its first Finals title.

“Honestly, it’s awesome,” said Alexander, who provided the assist on Stuck’s goal. “It’s just unreal. I love playing defense, but when I get to play up there on the corners, it’s just awesome. And I love helping out the team; it’s great.”

Byron Center (21-1-3) had never played in a girls soccer Final prior to Saturday, but didn’t shrink from the moment as it handed Saline (21-1-2) its lone loss of the season.

That might be because it was used to playing in high-pressure situations, having won all its postseason games by a single goal, five victories coming at 1-0, and the other a 3-2 overtime win against Midland in the Regional Final.

“We talked about this back in March, that soccer is a fickle game,” Conlon said. “You can dominate and lose 1-0, or you can dominate and win 1-0, so you just have to be comfortable with that. I don’t think they understood it at first, but they do now. They ground out some great wins against some good teams.”

The biggest win against the best team included holding off top-ranked Saline’s dynamic scoring duo of Sadie Walsh and Sienna Snyder. They had combined for 50 goals (30 for Snyder, 20 for Walsh) leading up to Saturday, but were held to just five shots, with three on goal – accounting for every Saline attempt on the day.

The Hornets’ Caylin Sturms (3) works to maintain possession despite pressure from a Bulldogs defender. “Walsh is a great player,” Conlon said. “She undid a couple of very good defenders running with the ball. She’s very good. We had to layer our defense and make sure she had to break through multiple levels. I think 1v1, she’s almost unguardable, so it was great team defending.”

The Bulldogs did it with composure on the back end, despite Kerns, a senior, being the only upperclassman on the starting back line. Alexander and Willey are sophomores, while Stuck is a freshman, as is starting goalkeeper Nora Schans.

“My wife started with a lot of these girls when they were 5, so we’ve been training them from a really young age,” Conlon said. “And they play at a high club level; a lot of our backline players do. They’re just great players, and they’re humble, they’re OK with defending and not scoring. They’re OK with coming away with a win and never coming away with the scoring, so our back four are fantastic.”

The scoring did come from the back four in this one, of course, and it was a beautiful set play from a Jadyn Glover corner.

Alexander met the ball near the top of the box, flicking it into a dangerous area, and Stuck struck it out of the air and into the net.

“The corner went short, so I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to try and at least get my head on it,’” Alexander said. “So I just flicked it, and Ashtyn just happened to be there and it was amazing. I’m really happy that she got that as a freshman.”

The goal was just the sixth allowed by Saline all season, and first it had allowed in the postseason. Goalkeeper Kaylee Mitzel, who made five saves Saturday, entered the game with a 0.23 goals-against average and 18 shutouts.

“I couldn’t be prouder of them,” Saline coach Leigh Rumbold said. “The amount of effort they put in day in and day out to get to this stage – getting to this stage is hard. Over the course of the boys and girls program at Saline, we’re the third team to get to this stage.

“It hurts. I don’t even have the words for it – you could obviously see it when they came off. It hurts to get to this stage and have this be our one loss, but the fact of the matter is, when you kind of take a step back and take a couple days, weeks to let it set in, it’s been an unbelievable season.”

Saline was able to put some pressure on the Bulldogs midway through the second half, but couldn’t turn it into quality chances on goal. And Byron Center did a good job of clearing the ball and moving it forward to striker Ella Alexander who, while she didn’t score, did have three shots and stressed the Hornets defense, often by herself as her team was set back defending.

“She’s a demon,” Conlon said. “She’s a demon. I jokingly have called her the Tasmanian Devil because I don’t think I’ve ever coached a front-runner who can run 80 or 90 minutes at that pace and press. I convinced her early on that, ‘You might not score, but you’ll turn balls over pressing the back line. She didn’t go in the scorebook today, but she created a lot of things for us.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Byron Center keeper Nora Schans, far right, prepares to stop a shot from Saline’s Sienna Snyder on Saturday. (Middle) The Hornets’ Caylin Sturms (3) works to maintain possession despite pressure from a Bulldogs defender. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.