LocalSportsJournal.com

EAST LANSING – The Spring Lake girls soccer program accomplished quite a feat on Saturday at Michigan State University’s DeMartin Stadium.

The Lakers took down state-power Bloomfield Hills Marian 1-0 to capture the Division 2 state championship.

The win came against a Mustang program that has reached the state finals 11 times in the last 15 years. Seven of those trips resulted in state titles.

Saturday’s game was a rematch of sorts as Spring Lake found itself on the losing end against the Mustangs back in the 2021 state finals, when this year’s seniors were just freshman.

Spring Lake freshman Aveya Patino watches her shot find the back of the net for Spring Lake. Photo/Tim Reilly

“My seniors were freshman that year,” said Spring Lake Coach Becky May, who played soccer for MSU in the 1990s. “That was our first time to the stage and a lot of my talent were freshman at the time and they battled. Three years of work and we were ready for today.”

The Lakers squared up to Bloomfield Hills and did not blink.

“We’ve been undersized against the teams we’ve played,” said May. “So, we have had to be physical all year and in games like this when the refs call it so tight, it becomes a challenge for us because that’s how we’ve survived to this point.”

In a game that was physical both ways, Spring Lake showed they were not about to back down.

Defensively, the squad was led by a seasoned backfield in senior goalkeeper Jessica Stewart, along with the senior crew of Brooke Bolthouse, Ella Rabideau and junior Lauren Nicles.

“The reason we were able to do what we did was because of the maturity back there,” said May. “Three seniors and a junior … It is very hard to beat a defensive line that’s got that much maturity on it.”

The backfield was nearly impenetrable as the Lakers held the Mustangs to a limited amount of solid scoring opportunities throughout the game. Officially, Spring Lake held a 12-7 edge in shots.

The shots that did make their way through, came from a long distance and were locked tight in the hands of Stewart.

“I just try my best, sometimes those (long shots) aren’t the easiest to figure out and track,” said Stewart. “My defense is amazing, though, they stop everything, and we’ve played together for so long and we’re friends outside of practice. It just makes us gell.”

Spring Lake started off strong defensively against Bloomfield Hills as the Mustangs found early opportunities from a distance. But the Lakers backfield stayed strong, settled in and after the first 20 minutes of the contest, the offense started to find its groove.

Ella Andree (2) greets Patino (24) with another teammate after the Laker’s goal. Photo/Tim Reilly

With 14 minutes left in the first half, Spring Lake’s Aveya Patino scored the game’s lone goal. A goal the freshman will never forget.

“Just get it in and score,” said Patino about what she was thinking of what proved to be the game-winning goal. “The seniors were saying they really wanted to do it their senior year and now we’ve done it.”

Ella Andree set up the goal with a solid shot from 15 yards out and to the right of Mustang goalie Dani Mertz. Andree’s shot was deflected to Patino, who made two touches and then laced a shot into the lower left corner for the Laker lead.

Spring Lake continued to push Bloomfield Hills, getting a pair of shots in the last four minutes of the first half.

The Lakers came out of halftime pushing right away, setting up Andree for an open breakaway. Mertz was able to get to the free ball at the same time as Andree and thwarted the Spring Lake opportunity.

“We gave it just as much as we could get, and I thought we were quite physical with being how young we were, but credit to them, they capitalized on their moment in the game that they had,” said first-year Bloomfield Hills Coach Danny Price. “They had a 1-v-1 breakaway, but you’re not beating Dani Mertz on a 1-v-1 breakaway, so they didn’t really trouble us outside of that.”

Time continued to wind down and Spring Lake defense was able to keep long possessions while sending the ball high and far in the air.

“The clock felt like it went really slow the second half,” said Stewart. “We had been pressured the whole time and we just had to keep playing the way we do without a mental lapse.”

The Mustangs final chance came close to nine minutes left in the game on a corner kick. But Stewart was able to grab the loose ball and help guide the Lakers to the Division 2 state title.

“I was crying after the game, this is indescribable,” said Stewart. “We’re starting and finishing the journey the same way. It didn’t feel good to lose our freshman year, especially against Marian. So, we came out here today for the rematch that we did not want to lose and we came out hard and followed our plan.”

Spring Lake Lakers, 2024 Division 2 soccer state champions. Photo/Tim Reilly