BOYS SOCCER: Canton edges Adams to reach state final
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
DAn.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
TROY — David McGrath was given a call to duty Wednesday night — on short notice.
The sophomore goalkeeper still delivered in his brief few minutes on the soccer pitch.
McGrath, who did not play in regulation or overtime, made a save in a shootout and Plymouth Canton edged Rochester Adams, 3-2, in a Division 1 state semifinal at Rochester Stoney Creek, also a rematch of last year’s state championship match.
Canton outscored Adams 4-3 in the shootout. Senior Jason Ren converted the Chiefs’ fifth kick, while Adams misfired on their fourth and fifth shots.
McGrath saved Adams’ No. 4 shooter with a kick-save.
“My coach told me just before overtime that if we went to PKs, I would play in the shootout,” said McGrath. “We practice them all the time and I have more experience playing in shootouts).”
The ninth-ranked Chiefs, the defending state champs, will face No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in the state finals Saturday at a site and time to be determined. FHC toppled fifth-ranked Novi Detroit Catholic Central, 3-1, in the other semifinal.
“(Forest Hills Central is) going to be real tough,” offered Canton coach Mark Zemanski, who returned 11 players and four starters from last year’s state championship team. “They’re undefeated. We were undefeated last year (24-0-3) going in. They deserve to be No. 1 team right now unless we can beat them and we’ll give it our best shot.”
Canton, which owns state titles in 1994, 2011 and 2014, became the first team this season to score more than two goals against Adams, which gave up only 18 goals in 27 games. The Chiefs have now scored 26 goals in the postseason this year, including the three against Adams.
“This was a great high school game,” added Zelmanski. “We were fortunate enough to pull this one out.”
Adams (17-7-3) took a 1-0 lead with 30:14 left in the first half when senior Lennart Zorn headed home a free kick from junior Jon Kmiec.
Canton (20-5-3) snatched the momentum right back with two goals within a five-minute stretch.
Junior Sam DeLoy headed home a close-range cross from senior Jimmy Walkingshaw with 28:46 remaining in the first half. Canton took a 2-1 lead when Mr. Soccer candidate Hunter Olson scored his team-leading 26th marker of the season when he was left wide open in the box and headed in a cornerkick from senior Josh Posuniak.
The lead stood until the 51st minute, when Kmiec scored in an unlikely fashion. His 60-yard free kick sailed high and eluded Canton’s starting goalkeeper Steve Page to the left goal post.
Adams nearly took the lead with 6:30 left in the first overtime when Kmiec’s 25-yard blast was tipped away by Page.
Adams had only given up five goals in its previous 10 games and yielded only one goal in the tournament entering the state semifinal. The Highlanders had 13 shutouts and only Clarkston and Catholic Central were able to score more than one goal on Adams this season.
The end of the road for Adams halted a third straight deep tournament run, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2013, a state runner-up showing in 2014 and Final Four in 2015, the school’s sixth in 17 years.
“Usually we’ve done pretty well in (shootouts),” said Adams coach Josh Hickey, whose team has won a couple of shootouts the past two seasons.” They finished and we didn’t — it’s that simple. I couldn’t be more proud of them. They gave the effort that they needed to get us to that point. Shootouts … it’s a coin toss. You just gotta finish and hope for a save or two. I thought we did well. We just came up short.
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