Spring Lake gathers before the game against Unity Christian at Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Mich. on Friday, May 24, 2024. Becky Particka | MLive.com
SPRING LAKE, MI – The Spring Lake girls soccer program was devastated three years ago after suffering a 3-0 loss to Bloomfield Hills Marian in the 2021 Division 2 state championship game.
The Lakers will get a shot at redemption Saturday at 4 p.m. as they make their triumphant return to the Division 2 state title game to face a familiar foe at the DeMartin Soccer Complex in East Lansing.
Bloomfield Hills Marian (15-3-3) has won four of the last six state championships dating back to the 2017 season but will be challenged by the top-ranked team in the Division 2 field and a roster of Lakers motivated for poetic justice.
“I can’t imagine anything more beautiful for this group of seniors,” Spring Lake head coach Becky May said of the possibility of winning a state championship against Bloomfield Hills Marian. “These girls deserve this opportunity. They’ve worked hard for it. Not only in their skill sets but their determination and commitment this year have been unmatched.
“For us to climb back into the state championship game and get the exact same matchup that these seniors like Ella Andree, Jessica Stewart, Clara Saunders, and Clara Howe had when they were freshmen just feels poetic in a lot of ways. They started their varsity careers the same way they’ll be ending it but now, they’ve got more experience, more skill and more confidence to work with.”
Spring Lake (16-2-5) reached the Division 2 state title game after defeating Holland Christian 1-0 in the state semifinals. The Lakers received a scoring boost from freshman forward Aveya Patino in their Final Four matchup – highlighting the roster’s impressive depth and leadership.
“When you’ve got the type of seniors that we have on this year’s team, it allows some of the younger players to thrive in their roles,” said May. “We have a lot of team maturity this year and I think everyone realizes that if we just play within our roles, we’ll be successful as a team. Sometimes, that means our freshman forward is scoring the game-winner and other times, it might be all our upperclassmen making penalty kicks in a big spot. It’s been really fun to watch this group rally around each other and make each other better.”
Spring Lake defeated Midland (3-2) and Forest Hills Central (2-1) in the regional round of the state tournament, following wins over Allendale (2-0) and Sparta (8-0) in the districts after spending the majority of the regular season with a large target on their backs as the top-ranked team in Division 2.
“I think it’s safe to say that we lived up to the hype,” said May of her team’s top ranking in the Division 2 polls. “We’re as prepared as we’ve ever been for a game, which is critical because we’re going up against a really good opponent. Our whole run this postseason has been filled with one-score games, so we’re expecting another tight one and we’re excited about this opportunity in front of us.”
The trip to DeMartin Stadium in East Lansing will be an exciting reunion for May, who played center midfielder for the Michigan State University women’s soccer team from 1990-93 after a stellar career at Grand Haven High School.
“It’s an emotional game for me because I’m going back to where I played four years of college,” she said. “I’m sure it’ll be a little bit emotional for me to go back and walk into DeMartin Stadium again and look around and have all those memories come back while looking out in front of me and seeing these girls making their own memories. The whole thing is an amazing experience and I’m not taking a single second for granted because I know how hard it is to get here and how rare this opportunity is. We are blessed to be able to enjoy this run and we feel like we have a chance to make a very special memory Saturday.”
The Lakers have already established themselves as a state powerhouse under May’s leadership but adding a state championship trophy to her resume would mean the world to her after numerous trips to the regional finals during her time at Spring Lake.
“It’s something every coach talks about, and it’s something every coach dreams about,” said May of potentially winning a state championship. I don’t know if everybody realizes what it takes to even get to a state championship game. It’s an honor to even be one of the last two teams remaining in the state after hundreds of high school teams battled to get in the same position you are in.
“It really just comes down to who can turn away the distractions and focus on executing their gameplan the best. That’s easier said than done when you feel like you’re living out a fairy tale between getting a charter bus and police escort out of town and then you jump right into the craziness of the atmosphere at Michigan State too. It’s chaotic at times but that’s what makes these state championship games so memorable and so enjoyable.”
It’ll take an inspired effort from the Lakers to knock off the Mustangs on Saturday but May and her senior class of Andree, Stewart, Saunders, Howe, Ella Rabideau, Brooke Bolthouse, Kyle Shelton, Kiele Stephenson, Alyssa Johnson and Elaina Furton wouldn’t have it any other way as they prepare to close out their high school soccer careers.
“Every time I turn on tape of (Marion) I see exactly what I expect to see,” she said. “They play a very mature brand of soccer and make a lot of quick decisions. They play fast, they pressure hard and they just execute their gameplan incredibly well. They excel at set pieces and they are going to try and generate as many corner kicks as possible to set those up. There’s nothing intimidating about them. They are a very talented and skilled soccer team and it’s going to take our very best efforts to beat them.
“It’s going to be a massive fight but these girls are ready for it. We’ve had a lot of challenges this season and we’ve done a good job of clearing those hurdles and moving on to the next one. This is going to be our biggest challenge yet but what more could you ask for a competitor than to face the same team in the finals that beat you three years ago.”
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