Alyse Daavettila will go down as one of the best soccer players ever at Hartland.
Making the all-state Dream Team puts her on a different level than Eagles who have earned other all-state recognition through the years for a program that has played in two state championship games.
Daavettila became only the third Hartland player chosen to the select Dream Team, which was chosen by the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association. The Dream Team is comprised of the top 12 players in Michigan from all four divisions.
Hartland’s other Dream Team selections were Maddie Pogarch in 2015 and Justina L’Esperance in 2021. Pogarch is playing professional soccer and L’Esperance is playing at Northern Michigan University after leading Hartland to the state championship three years ago.
“She’s right there with the other two,” Hartland coach Andrew Kartsounes said. “They were all very similar in that they were all offensive-minded players. All of them were kind of the point of attack who would get marked by other teams, yet were able to get free and do things for us all season long. All of them led us on long runs when they were there.”
Daavettila was Hartland’s leading scorer each of the past two seasons, scoring 12 goals and six assists this year after collecting nine goals and six assists as a junior. She had a five-goal performance in one half against Howell.
Daavettila was a key contributor as a freshman on Hartland’s state championship team, scoring four goals and seven assists, including an assist in the state title game against Troy Athens.
“Depending on what we were looking for out of a situation, we could move her up top when we needed goals and put her in the midfield to run the offense,” Kartsounes said. “This year, something she wanted to do was be more involved in the building of the offense. She’s a versatile offensive-minded player.”
Daavettila will continue her soccer career at Northern Michigan.
In addition to making the Dream Team, she was the only Livingston County player to make first-team all-state. She was a third-team Division 1 selection as a junior.
Making the third team in Division 1 were Hartland senior midfielder Emma Kastamo and Brighton senior midfielder Emily Kramer.
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Hartland junior defender Sophia Pietila and Brighton junior midfielder Olivia Sebestyen received honorable mention.
Senior goalie Peyton Delongchamp and senior midfielder Zaryah Griffin of Pinckney received honorable mention in Division 2 after making the second team last year when the Pirates advance to a regional final.
Livingston Christian junior forward Audrey Johnson received Division 4 honorable mention for the second straight year.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
