Troy wins first regional soccer crown since 2003
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
LAKE ORION — After Saturday’s regional title game, Troy senior A.J. Kalina and the team’s coaches were joking about Kalina’s loss of being the team’s leading scorer.
Fellow senior Jason Leslie now owns that distinction with 11 goals. Kalina will just have to be satisfied with Troy’s first regional trophy in boys soccer since 2003.
Leslie scored in regulation and in overtime to lead Troy to a 2-1 victory over Walled Lake Northern for the Division 1 regional championship at Lake Orion High School.
Troy romped Walled Lake Northern, 6-1, on Aug. 26, surrendering an early penalty kick goal but then taking over for the rout. Obviously, Saturday’s game featured much more suspense.
Troy coach Brian Zawislak said he thought he had his team prepared after countless tight situations during the regular season and the beginning of the state tournament. Troy went down early against Rochester Adams and came back, then later beat Birmingham Brother Rice and Midland Dow consecutively, 1-0.
The game was a typical regional final with plenty of physicality and aggressiveness. Neither team launched many quality chances against air-tight back lines.
LOOKING AHEAD: Troy's Luke Ridenhour and the Colrts can look ahead one more round in the postseason, thanks to Saturday's 2-1 win over Walled Lake Northern in a Division regional final. File Photo
Northern scored first in the opening eight minutes of the second half. Off a corner kick, Alex Hays’ shot caromed around and took an odd bounce over the heads of junior goalie Matt Smolinski and junior defender Luke Ridenour with 32:43 remaining.
“I was marking somebody at the top of the box, and it went over my head,” senior defender David Eicher said. “I yelled ‘Over’ and there were a couple of guys right in front of the goal and we couldn’t quite clear it out yet, it took a funny bounce off Matt, he couldn’t react in time, and it just bounced over. It found the net somehow.”
In a game with scarce chances, that goal was a bit of an alarm, but Troy (20-2-1) went to work on its second comeback of the tournament.
“We were a little worried, but we did well most of the game, got a lot of chances, and we figured if we just keep going we’re going to get one,” Kalina said.
Ten minutes later, Leslie had an answer. On a long cross from Brandon Riddle that seemed to be heading routinely towards the goalkeeper, Leslie swept into the box, jumped up, and headed it over Northern goalkeeper Mitchell Thompson’s outstretched arms.
“I don’t think he saw me coming,” Leslie said. “I just jumped, it hit me, and I didn’t even know it went in until I got up. It was just a fluke play, but their goal was a fluke too, so it works both ways.”
The game was fairly calm for the rest of regulation, though Danny Berger fired a hard shot that may have beaten the first overtime buzzer, but it was just saved by the Northern defenders at the goal line.
Leslie’s second strike came in the first 12 seconds of the second overtime session. Before Northern (15-7-1) even touched the ball, Berger took it down towards the end line on the left and fed it perfectly to Leslie in the middle. Thompson came out, but the ball slid past him for an easy Leslie finish.
“Just a sense of ‘This could be my last game,’” Zawislak said when asked what he’s seen in Leslie’s play. “He just wants to keep it going at any cost.”
The coach added that he wanted his team to try to get the ball more to the left in addition to the right to stretch out the defense more. Berger lurked on that side, ready for the game-winning assist.
“We were just [wanting] to try to get it out to the flanks because they do really well defensively in the center of the field,” Kalina added. “We figured we could go out to the outsides and cross balls in to Jason getting headers, and that was our plan.”
Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Troy
