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GIRLS SOCCER: Troy shuts down Grosse Pointe South to win regional

Dan Stickradt | June 11, 2012 | Comments (1)

BY JAKE LOURIM

STUDENT CORRESPONDENT

FRASER — It’s hard to beat a good team two or three times in one season. But, as the Troy girls soccer team is proving, it’s even harder to beat the Colts in the playoffs.

Troy senior Irene Young poked in the game-winner in a Division 1 regional final victory over Grosse Pointe South Friday, 1-0, at Fraser High School, the second time Troy has defeated the Blue Devils this season.

A slow start offensively for both teams made it 0-0 at halftime. But in the 56th minute —the latest game-winner for Troy in this year’s playoffs — senior Jenn Busk started the charge.

Busk blasted a ball from almost 40 yards out towards the upper-right corner of the goal. With the South goalie lunging to tip it off the post, Young ran into the box and hammered home the rebound for her third goal of the tournament.

“We always talk about keeping the ball alive, so when the ball popped out in the corner from the service, Nadine [Bratu] got the ball wide, and I thought I could try to hit it. The goalie tried to save it, and Irene finished it nicely.”

“I was kind of thinking maybe it would be a shot, because I’ve hit them from farther before. I was hoping that the goalie would fumble it so we could get somebody on the end of it.”

With Young’s nose for the goal, getting on the end of it was simple.

“(Busk) had a really good shot to the ball, and I knew it was either going in or the keeper would bobble it. I knew it would come out somehow, so it was easy for me.”

From there, Troy turned to its impenetrable defense to finish the job. Grosse Pointe South managed only two shots on goal for the game, and the Colts picked up their fifth shutout in five tournament games.

The last time Troy gave up a goal was May 17 against Rochester Stoney Creek.

“I think at this point in the season, we’re really used to each other, so we know someone’s going to get that ball,” junior goalie Alison Holland said. “We cover in on each other and we’re really organized in the back. We have each other’s back.”

Grosse Pointe South predictably tried to get forward when Troy scored. But the Colts stymied South every time.

“The back line has just played really well. Since the last time we played them, we’ve really been focused on our shape in the back. When balls go in behind us, how do we react? We can avoid balls going behind us by winning balls out of the air.”

Zawislak praised his junior goalie for being a “maestro” in commanding her back line.

“It can get really weird with the dynamics back there, but Alison just does a good job of keeping players in the right spot and yanking the leash and pulling players back,” the coach said.

Troy has hoisted this trophy before — some seniors three times — but this time was still special for the team.

The players celebrated with the trophy excitedly: first just the captains Busk, Holland, and Young; then the whole team; then the three seniors who have now played in four state tournaments and 23 games — Young, Busk and senior defender Alyssa Cabelof.

After a sometimes frustrating regular season that ended with the Colts at 11-2-3, the title was especially sweet, according to Zawislak.

“There (were) high expectations coming in, but the league prepares us really well for this moment, so the fact that we get to play game in and game out against some of the best teams in the state, this game for us is no different,” Zawislak said. “We go into the game with that kind of mentality — we’ve been here a million times before, let’s just go take care of business again.

“But it’s special — we had the target on our backs, so it’s really special to get back here, but the work’s not done.”

Said Busk: “It was a big adjustment, but I just focus on the corners where I do still get a hand in offensive stuff. I just focus on those and make sure they’re good services so I can still get involved in it.”

“A little of both,” Zawislak said. “You’ve got to be good at this point, and you’ve got to be lucky at this point.”

“She just picks and chooses her times to get forward,” Zawislak said. “She’s a smart player, so she picks and chooses her times when the game’s telling her to get forward and when the game’s telling her to stay back. We trust in her judgment back there.”