Back on top: Troy Bethany edges Rochester Hills for third MACS soccer state title in four years
HEADS UP: Troy Bethany Christian Christian sophomore Sarah Tomkowiak clears the ball away from danger during Tuesday's Michigan Association of Christian Schools state title game. Tomkowiak and the Bruins toppled Rochester Hills Christian, 1-0, for the state title, their third in four seasons. Staff Photo | Larry McKee, www.lmckeephotography.com
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
CLARKSTON — Troy Bethany Christian is back on top.
The Bruins, who captured Michigan Association of Christian Schools girls soccer state titles in both 2008 and 2009 but suffered through a major rebuilding year in 2010, gained back its state crown Tuesday with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over arch-rival Rochester Hills Christian in an All-Oakland County final played at Clarkston Springfield Christian.
“It’s a great feeling winning this year,” offered third-year head coach Theresa Clarke. “Last year we were really young with a bunch of sophomores and this year we were mostly juniors and not a lot of seniors. To win it without a lot of seniors is special.”
The two teams split during the regular season, with Bethany Christian also winning the FBAC league championship (7-1-0) for the sixth time in seven years. It also marked the Bruins’ sixth trip to the MACS state title game in seven years, as they lost to Davison Faith Baptist three straight times from 2005-07 before winning three of the past four.
With a junior-laden team where 11 of 21 players are in the 11th grade, it was only fitting that two juniors were involved in the game’s only goal, coming with six minutes left in the second half. Anna Tomkowiak served a cornerkick into the penalty box, where classmate Becca Ward got a foot on it and her shot skipped off a defender’s leg and into the goal.
Junior Joy Lampert made seven saves for the shutout for Bethany Christian (9-3-0), which was originally slated to play in the finals Saturday, but rainouts of other games in the opposite side of the bracket last week pushed the finals back to Tuesday.
“We thought it would be close,” said Clarke. “It was just a matter of us finding a way to finally score.”
The Bruins held a 11-7 advantage with shots on frame. Megan Steiner made 10 saves in a losing effort for Rochester Hills Christian.
“They’re goalie is really good, too,” said Clarke. “I thought we had more chances, but she’s so tall (6-foot). She gets to almost everything and that makes it hard to score on them.”
REACHING OUT: Rochester Hills Christian senior goalkeeper Megan Steiner dives for the ball during Tuesday's MACS state title game. Staff Photo | Larry McKee, www.lmckeephotography.com
Rochester Hills Christian (11-3-1) was not only making its first-ever appearance in the MACS title game for girls soccer, which dates back to 1997 with the first MACS state tournament for the sport, it was the first finals appearance in girls sports overall. The Eagles graduate eight of their 21 players, seven which were starters.
“It hurts losing by one goal, especially because it deflected off a defender’s leg (in a goal-mouth scrum) and I thought we played a great defensive game. It was just one mistake,” said Rochester Hills Christian, a 1990 graduate of the school who started the girls soccer program in 1997. “It took all of those years to finally get here and we lose by a goal. We felt at the beginning of the season it might be our year with all of the seniors we had. We’ve made it to the semis a couple of times (in recent years) and only lost by a goal there last year. We just couldn’t seem to get much offense going in this game.
“We had a talented senior class and we’re going to miss them.”
Bethany Christian loses only two starters to graduation, defenders Sarah Davis and Katie Schultz, so the Bruins will be one of the favorites next season.
“We’re excited because we should being most of our team back,” said Clarke. “Our goalie will be back and both of the Tomkowiak (sisters, Anna and Sarah) are back. Sarah was our leading scorer with 16 goals and Jessica Oja had 13. We’ll return our top players, so we hope to win it again next year.”
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Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Rochester Hills Christian, Troy Bethany Christian
