Clarkston rallies past Oxford for district win
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
OXFORD — Just two weeks after thumping Oxford 6-1 in a girls soccer match, Clarkston received quite a scare in the first round of the Division 1 districts against those same Wildcats.
The Wolves found themselves trailing the hosts, 2-1, at the half before rallying for a 3-2, opening-round win Tuesday at the Oxford Soccer Stadium.
“This was a nail-biter,” sighed Clarkston coach Sarah Smith, whose team has fought through injuries all season, including the loss to last year’s leading scorer, Mikayla Ferer, to injury in mid-April. “For whatever reason, Oxford played much better this time. The last time, we scored three goals in five minutes on them and that took the wind out (of their sails).”
This time, it was Oxford that proved to be the aggressor in the first half.
Paige Brinker and Taylor Healy scored for Oxford, the first unassisted and the second off a pass from Amanda Roth, as the Wildcats came out and took control.
Clarkston eventually weathered the storm and tucked away a first-half goal from Lisa Lyons off a cross from Andrea Butler.
“I thought we outplayed them for the first 30 minutes,” offered Oxford coach Larry Ferris. “But Clarkston slowly got back into the game. They scored on a couple of nice goals. Good teams find ways to come back.”
Lindsey Adams scored the game-tying goal, courtesy of Butler, and Lyons knocked home the game-winner inside 15 minutes off a pass from Caitlyn Kirby to lead Clarkston’s second-half rally.
Jackie Gipe picked up the win in goal for Clarkston (8-7-3), which advanced to the district semifinals Thursday at Lake Orion against Waterford Kettering, which upset Lake Orion, 2-1, Tuesday in its district opener. Game time is set for 4 p.m. with Rochester Adams and Rochester Stoney Creek playing in the second district semifinal immediately afterwards.
“One of my worst fears this season was playing up a division and losing players and we lost one of our key players earlier in the year,” said Smith.”I thought, based on everything that we’ve still had a good season and it’s nice to still be playing. We’ve had a lot of close games this season.
“We did a nice job coming back and I think, based on who we’ve played this season, definitely helped with that,” offered Smith. “I thought that Andrea Butler did a really nice job. She stepped up when we needed someone to step up and I thought Lisa Lyons had a good game with a couple of nice goals.”
Darian Vandel, recently called up to the varsity ranks after starting goalkeeper Sarah Stroope suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, made nine saves in the loss for Oxford.
“I thought Darian played very well,” said Ferris. “When we played them before, she didn’t have the experience. She stepped up in this game and played well.
“I am not disappointed in how we played. We gave Clarkston a battle,” continued Ferris. “I thought when we moved to the OAA this year, we might get beat bad by some teams. That wasn’t the case. We finished 8-6-3 overall and our league record was 7-1-3. That’s not bad at all. We were in the top three in our division and played well in our district game.”
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Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Oxford, Prep Wraps
