Mourning Those Who Contributed Much

Megan U’Ren knows full well there’s no guarantee the best-played soccer ball for a scoring chance will find the back of the net.

Her perspective comes from being the passer and shooter the past four years for Suttons Bay High School.

“Goals and assists are almost equally as hard because you can set someone up perfectly and then they miss,” U’Ren said. “And then even my scoring chance … if I got set up perfectly … everyone misses.”

Enough perfect-like passes were finished though — to and from U’Ren. She just finished her career as the leading goal scorer in the school’s history as well as with the most assists ever recorded. U’Ren, who plans to attend Michigan State University in the fall, gives the lion’s share of credit to her teammates for the records.

“I wasn't really expecting to break any records,” U’Ren pointed out. “You can't really score without someone assisting you and then to get all these assists, my teammates had to score goals.”

While leading the Norse to a 13-5-1 record this spring, U’Ren toppled the marks of Sydney Deadman for career goals and Lauren Lints for career assists. She had already set the single-season assists school record a few seasons earlier, surpassing Paige Kohler.

U’Ren quite possibly would have walked away with the single-season scoring record this year too, but the Norse saw six regular-season games cancelled due to Northern Michigan’s rather miserable spring weather. She finished her shortened senior season with 17 goals and six assists.

But it’s not necessarily the goals or the assists headlining U’Ren’s legacy.

“I am proud, as a dad and a coach, to see somebody from a young age take something serious, and be willing to put hours and hours of work into it … lifting weights, going to the field on her own shooting balls and stuff,” recalled her coach and father Randy U’Ren. “The girls see it. They see what happens when you put in a lot of work.”

The graduating senior U’Ren has been around Suttons Bay soccer since her dad returned to coaching high school. Under Coach U’Ren, the Norsemen’s boys soccer teams picked up District and Regional titles on a pretty regular basis.

“Megan was a great example of you put in the work, good things are bound to happen,” Randy U’Ren said. “This girl has been working with that level for many years.”

With opponents like Leland, Elk Rapids and Harbor Springs often in the Suttons Bay’s District bracket, the record holder wasn’t able to experience the postseason runs the boys had under coach U’Ren.

Leland also was a thorn to the Norse in the Northwest Conference, winning the title all four of Megan’s playing years.

“Winning Districts was always a goal, but our District has been hard,” admitted U’Ren, an all-conference player again this season. “Every single year we had teams like Harbor Springs in it.”

The Norse fell to Harbor this season in the District Semifinals on the Rams’ home field, 3-0. The Rams went on to advance to the Division 4 Final being played today at Michigan State University.

The Suttons Bay coach pointed out the assists and scoring records are more of a reflection on all the players he’s coached the last four seasons, not just his daughter.

“It’s a testament to the whole program when you have any records that come,” Randy U’Ren said, noting he’s never focused much on individual stats. “It's more like if the team is doing well, the other stuff follows. It's kind of like in business too. If you do the right things in your business, then the money will come.”

Megan U’Ren, who hopes to play college club soccer, looks back at her freshman year as her high school favorite.

“Every year was special,” she said. “But my freshman year was my favorite, getting to play with Dani, my oldest sister.”

And Megan leaves with fond memories of all four years.

“The sophomore year … breaking the assist record, and having Lauren (Lint) — that duo — was special,” she recalled. “Junior year it was seeing that the records were reachable and possible. And then, senior year breaking the records and just graduating with all of my teammates who have played club with me for so many years.”

Winning was a bigger priority than records for both U’Rens.

“I liked doing whatever the team needed and working as hard as I can to help the team succeed,” Megan U’Ren said. “But scoring was really fun, especially in the harder games.”

U’Ren broke Deadman’s record late in this season, scoring two in a win over Kalkaska. The game was stopped as center referee Ed O’Brien delivered game ball to school officials for presentation to U’Ren after the game.

“It was an honor to be asked to remove the ball if she got the record,” O’Brien said, noting he’s never done anything like it in his 25 years of refereeing high school soccer. “Number 10 is such a great player, and she could have scored more. She gave up chances prior, choosing to pass the ball instead.”

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) Suttons Bay’s Megan U’Ren (10) works against a pair of Leland defenders this season. (Middle) Megan U’Ren, right, and her father and coach Randy. (Below) U’Ren creates space during another game this spring. (Top photo courtesy of the Leelanau Enterprise. Family and Glen Lake photo by Trudy Galla Photography.)