GIRLS SOCCER: Hirsch’s hat trick powers Troy to third straight regional crown
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BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
GROSSE POINTE — The Troy girls soccer coaching staff had been waiting for senior forward Madison Hirsch to burst onto the stage in the state tournament. They had been waiting and waiting and waiting … but they’re not anymore.
Hirsch is on the big stage for good, and Friday, she helped kicked Troy into the Final Four for the fourth time in five seasons and for the 11th time in 20 years.
Hirsch scored three goals, while Sarah Troccoli and Erin Wrubel each added one to lead Troy to a 5-1 rout of New Baltimore Anchor Bay in the Division 1 regional finals Friday at Grosse Pointe North.
“We’ve all just been sitting, waiting for Hirsch to come out of her shell,” Troy coach Brian
Zawislak said. “She’s not been hitting the back of the net, but she did it tonight. That’s very good for us going forward.”
The Colts (13-6-3) stopped Anchor Bay (16-3-3) on May 20, 3-1, but poured it on Friday in their biggest rout of the 2013 tournament so far. They went up 3-0 and eventually won their third straight regional crown.
Anchor Bay came in with a powerful offense led by senior forward Michelle Dear, a Michigan State commit. The Tars rolled through the past two district tournaments, but could not stop Troy’s attack in last year’s regional semifinal or in the regular season meeting.
There lied the difference maker — the Colts struck first, struck often and never let Anchor Bay back into the contest.
“We tried to tell the girls to, without being cocky or arrogant, can you go take it to them the first five minutes and get them on their heels?” Zawislak said. “The girls really did that. The girls stuck to the game plan, and they executed really well.”
In the first five minutes, Troy continued its success on set pieces when senior Erin Wrubel served a cornerkick toward the far post for sophomore forward Sarah Troccoli, who headed it into the goal from close range.
Hirsch got on the scoreboard for her first goal of the state tournament when she ran onto a ball passed down the field by senior Kayla Porter and deflected it past the goalie. From there, the Colts asserted their tournament experience, frustrating Anchor Bay at every turn with their pressure.
“I think once you get that second goal, any team’s going to be depleted of confidence,” Troy goalie Alison Holland said.
Finally, with 7:37 left in the half, Troccoli made a quick dribble past an Anchor Bay defender and a quick pass to Hirsch, who hammered an easy shot inside the right post.
And the rout was on.
“I thought they gave up some space between their midfield and their back line,” Zawislak said. “When you send a player like Sarah Troccoli in there, it’s lights-out.”
Anchor Bay came out with more urgency in the second half, but it started to wane when Troy senior Erin Wrubel scored her first goal of the tournament with 31:06 left. Porter ran down the right flank toward the end line and served in a pass from there. Troccoli and Hirsch let it get past them in the box to Wrubel on the far side for an easy finish.
Wrubel said she had planned the play moments earlier with Troccoli and Hirsch to get the ball to the far side because Anchor Bay was heavily guarding the near post.
Hirsch finished off the hat trick with 25:41 left in the game, making it 5-0. Troccoli sent the ball downfield for a wide-open Hirsch, but Anchor Bay goalie Emily Zweng had come off her line. Hirsch shot it off Zweng, got the rebound and scored.
The last 25 minutes were merely a formality, although Anchor Bay got on the board with a quick shot by Dear from the left side that went off Holland’s hands into the net with 10:38 to go.
Then, Troy simply needed to kill the clock to secure its third straight state semifinals berth, a 6 p.m. Wednesday date at Lake Orion against Rochester, which beat Hartland Thursday, 4-0.
The Falcons are battle-tested, shutting out Lake Orion and Oxford in the district tournament before a 3-2 overtime comeback win over Rochester Adams in the district final. They blanked Grand Blanc, 2-0, in addition to Hartland, totaling 15 goals for and two goals against.
“After this game, I feel like we’ve got a lot of momentum, but so do they,” Hirsch said. “We’ve got to come in focused and strong to come out on top.”
Troy tied Rochester, 1-1, in a home league game on May 14. Troy senior Sara Wideman tied the score with one minute left in the game, giving the Colts all the momentum. After that game, they knew that if it had been in the state tournament, they could have used the momentum to close it out in overtime.
“I think it shows that we believe in each other,” Wrubel said. “No matter how hard it got, we knew we could get there, and we kept working.”
Now, four weeks later, Troy has the state tournament matchup it wanted.
“I think we can build from that and say, ‘Hey, you had them on the ropes,’” Zawislak said. “We just have to keep that momentum going with us.”
Troy was missing junior midfielder Jenna Cabelof in that game, while Rochester was without senior Jenny Goethals.
The Falcons finished the regular season ranked No. 10 in the state, but Zawislak knows his team is no underdog.
“No,” Zawislak said. “Rochester knows who we are. They know the rough road we went through, and I don’t think they’re going to take us lightly.”
Third-ranked Novi, which beat Troy in the state championship game two years ago, will play unranked Grandville in the other semifinal Wednesday. The state title game is Saturday at Williamston.
TROY IN POSTSEASON THE PAST 20 YEARS
2013: Still playing; Final Four.
2012: State Runner-Up, lost to Okemos (2-0).
2011: State Runner-Up, lost to Novi (1-0).
2010: Regional Finalist, lost to Novi (1-0).
2009: Final Four, lost to Utica Eisenhower (3-2).
2008: Lost in districts.
2007: Lost in districts.
2007: Lost in districts.
2006: Lost in districts.
2005: Final Four, lost to Novi (5-0).
2004: Regional Semifinalist, lost to Grosse Pointe South (1-0).
2003: State Champions, defeated Brighton (2-1, 2OT).
2002: Final Four, lost to Saginaw Heritage (2-1).
2001: State Runner-Up, lost to Plymouth Canton (3-1).
2000: Final Four, lost to Troy Athens (2-1).
1999: Regional Finalist, lost to Grosse Pointe South (3-0).
1998: Lost in districts.
1997: Regional Finalist, lost to Rochester Adams (NA).
1996: State Runner-Up, lost to Plymouth Canton (2-0).
1995: Lost in districts.
1994: State Champions, defeated Brighton (3-2).
(Jake Lourim is a senior at Troy High School and a member of the S.H.P. Media Group / www.northoaklandsports.com Student Correspondence Program. He is publisher of website www.troycoltsportsupdate.com and a member of the Troy school newspaper editorial staff. He can be reached by e-mail at j.lourim@comcast.net)
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