‘Sunny’ skies prevail in Athens’ district win over Utica
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
UTICA — Wednesday’s conditions rivaled a monsoon. For Troy Athens, the skies turned out to be ‘Sunny’ in the end.
Troy Athens senior Sunny Shettigar saved the Red Hawks, as his second-half goal lifted Athens to a 1-0 Division 1 district semifinal win over MAC White Division champion Utica in a game played at Utica’s Swinehart Stadium.
“It was brutal, but we’ll take the result,” smiled Athens coach Todd Heugh.
Senior Sandy Mouch’s long pass out of the backfield was chased down by senior Matt Dombrowski, who beat his mark to the corner. Dombrowski was able to send a low cross into the penalty box, where Shettigar pounced on a rebound following his own initial shot and sent the ball over the goal line with 13:18 to play.
Utica goalkeeper Josh Goepper made the initial stop, but the ball fell loose in the box and two other defenders tried to clear it before Shettigar was there to notch the game winner.
“The whole team was working hard. The whole thing started with a great ball from Sandy (Mouch) to Matt Dombrowski. I think Matt always puts a great ball into the box and after the first attempt we just kept trying and the ball popped out and I just jumped on it and put it into the net,” said Shettigar. “I got pretty elated to see the ball, but I kept my composure and I was able to get to the ball and put it in.”
Heugh felt that his team’s perseverance and team speed finally paid off down the stretch.
“(The rain) was coming down and coming down and it was hard to really do much of anything,” noted Heugh. “We have really been working on knocking the ball around and with the wind and rain it was really difficult to do that. We stuck with it and we tried to make something happen.
SLIPPING PAST: Troy Athens' Alex Serwatka tries to maneuver past Utica's Jeff Adkins during Wednesday's Division 1 district semifinal.
“We really wanted to get the ball out wide to Matt Dombrowski a lot more. He had a (foot) in our game-winning goal (Monday) against Chippewa Valley,” continued Heugh. “He helped with the game-winning goal tonight. And Sunny didn’t quit. A lot of kids would have given up with the goalie and all of those defenders back there. But Sunny kept working and came up with the loose ball.”
Athens, winners of five straight, carry a 12-game unbeaten streak (11-0-1) into Saturday’s 12 noon district final against Sterling Heights Stevenson, the same team that knocked the Red Hawks out last season in the district opener (2-1).
Stevenson edged out Rochester, 1-0, in Wednesday’s first semifinal.
Athens (13-3-2) outshot Utica by a 10-7 margin, although both teams fired five shots directly on frame.
Utica nearly took the lead with 18:40 to play, when senior Trevor Murphy ripped a shot from outside the box that was turned aside by Athens senior goalkeeper Sam Ward. A defender was there to clear the ball away before the Chieftains (16-3-1) could get a forward into the box to fire off another shot.
“The game was going back and forth and I thought that Athens was giving us some trouble with their speed,” offered Utica coach Dave Moran. “I thought that it would go down to who made the mistake. You can’t hold on to the ball in the box. You have to get it out. They made us pay.”
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Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Troy Athens
