GIRLS SOCCER: Liggett shuts out Oakland Christian in regional semifinal upset
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
MADISON HEIGHTS — The game plan for Grosse Pointe Woods University-Liggett Tuesday night was simple.
Shut down Auburn Hills Oakland Christian high scoring sophomore Victoria Lucido and make someone else step up and beat the Knights.
Liggett bottled up Lucido for much of Tuesday’s contest and found enough offense of its own in ousting the Lancers, 1-0, in a Division 4 regional semifinal Tuesday at Madison Heights Bishop Foley Catholic.
University-Liggett (13-5-1) will face unranked Wixom St. Catherine at 7 p.m. Thursday for the regional championship.
University-Liggett, which finished second to Oakland Christi an in MIAC Blue Division play this season, gained its revenge on the Lancers after losing and tying Oakland Christian during the regular season.
“We definitely had the desire to even the series, so to speak,” said University-Liggett coach David Dwaihy. “We knew their strengths. They were a known quantity, but we still knew it was going to be a dogfight.
“We were able to shut down Lucido. She’s a great player, one of the best in (Division 4) in the state,” admitted Dwaihy. “Our defense played a great game.”
Teagan Cornell picked up the shutout between the pipes for Liggett, with defensive aid from senior center backs Autumn Buysse and Carina Ghafar. The Knights outshot Oakland Christian 13-7, including 10-5 with shots on frame.
“That’s the downside of playing a team twice. They know your number,” sighed Oakland Christian coach Dave Andersen. “Dave (Dwaihy) has that team prepared, ready to go. They’re a solid team with a great coach. We were just hoping for that one long ball, (With Lucido) getting through and finish. But they did a great job of man marking her. We had some chances.”
Freshman Kelly Solak scored the game’s only goal with 12:02 left in the first half. She scooped up a loose ball 15 yards in front of the net and her curling shot caromed off the goal post and into the corner of the goal.
Oakland Christian (14-4-1) picked up the play in the second half and pressured the Knights’ backfield. But the Lancers’ could not crack Liggett’s stingy defense and ran out of steam.
“These girls really came together as a team this year. Having only 14 girls it’s tough, but they did a lot of bonding this year,” said Andersen. “We got better as the season went along. Just came up a little bit short today.”
GIRLS SOCCER:
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
MADISON HEIGHTS — It’s not that Wixom St. Catherine Siena girls soccer team was anti-fashion a couple of years ago. They simply weren’t fully clothed.
“When we started up, we had girls basketball jerseys for some of them,” recalled xx coachSarah Polnasek. “It wasn;t very pretty.”
St. Catherine’s might not be the most talented small school in the state, but the xxx made quite a run in the Division 4 postseason, eventually reaching the Elite Eight, where they fell in the regional finals to xxxxxxxx.
It was the furthest any team in St. Catherine short-lived history has advanced in the postseason. The school opened in 2010-11 with a ninth grade class. “
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