|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
June 5, 2005 Record-Eagle/Lara Neel TC Central's Kirsten Lumley (22) battles West's Jamie Furstenberg as Kristina Adair (9) looks on. Lumley's second-half goal gave the Trojans a district title. Central advances by topping TitansOne-goal game is third this seasonByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - There was no trophy and no medals. It didn't matter. Traverse City Central edged rival TC West 2-1 in a Division 1 district final to claim its eight straight district crown. Tied 1-1 with 10:08 remaining, Kirsten Lumley - who saw her sister Kacie get hurt early in the game and not return - scored the game-winner on a direct kick, floating the shot over a Titan wall of defenders. "When I set (the ball) down, their wall was blocking all but the far right corner," Kirsten Lumley said. "I let it go and said, 'Please, please go in,' and it did. We always have problems with West." The Titans certainly gave Central its money's worth. So close in fact, West may want its change back. "We just played 110 minutes down in Midland on artificial turf on Thursday and they played the bottom of the draw against Alpena," Sullivan said. "That's the luck of the draw. We tired out in the last 15 minutes. "We can play with them on any day. Central now goes downstate and we'll cheer them on for Traverse City soccer." The two teams played in yet another one-goal game in their third meeting this season. Central has taken all three, coming back from a 1-0 halftime deficit in the last two. "We are patient," Trojan coach Andy Valdmanis said. "Sometimes I think we're patient to a fault. Today's patience was a little unnerving." The district championship was moved from Midland to Traverse City because both TC teams made it to the finals. Central beat Alpena 10-0 on Thursday while West scored a dramatic shootout win over the host Chemics in Midland. The trophy and individual medals are still in Midland. Jessie Aja tied the score at 1-1 off another direct kick with 16:30 left in the game. Aja's shot sailed over the outstretched arms of West goaltender Amber Dugan, hit the crossbar and came down to bounce in off Dugan's shoulder. "That was my second one from generally the same spot and the first one almost went in," Aja said. "It's tough to beat a team three times, but we pulled it off. (West) is always a really emotional game for us." It was also a physical game at times. There were 24 fouls called, the second most ever in a Central-West girls matchup. Despite getting whistled for twice as many fouls as Central, West outshot the Trojans 10-5. The Titans scored first as a shot by Jamie Furstenberg was deflected by Central goalie Polly Cline, hit the crossbar and landed in front of the net at the feet of West's Lauren Donaghy, who capitalized. The Titans carried the play for much of the first half and the early second half before Central came back. "We didn't let them have a lot of time with the ball and get crosses through," West defender Courtney Burmeister said. "We were getting tired (at the end). We stuck it out, though." The Titans outshot Central 5-1 in the first half. "We knew we were a good second-half team," Trojan senior forward Alex Raphael said. "We didn't want this to be our last game. We wanted to win so badly. "Alpena and West - there's very little similarity between them. West was pumped up with their win over Midland." No. 10-ranked Central (16-2-2) now advances to regionals to face Lake Orion (15-7-2) on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Grand Blanc. The other half of the region features a matchup between No. 7 Saginaw Heritage (15-3-3) and Grand Blanc. This will be Central's first-ever meeting with Lake Orion. "They've been kind of a Jekyll and Hyde team," Valdmanis said. "They struggled in the OAA (Oakland Activities Association) but they beat a lot of teams outside the conference 7-1 and 8-1." Valdmanis said he didn't think Kacie Lumley would be able to play on Tuesday after limping off 3:04 into the game with an ankle injury. Valdmanis said he thinks it is at least a level two sprain. DIVISION III NORSE WIN: Suttons Bay won its fourth consecutive Division III district soccer title by beating Kingsford 4-2 on Saturday. The Norse, 17-6-1, will play Fremont at 4 o'clock Wednesday in the regional opener at Big Rapids. Ludington and Tawas collide in the other bracket. Becky Houdek, Holly Orban, Grace Wigton and Victoria Alfonseca scored goals to key the win over Kingsford. Houdek scored off an assist from Orban to give the Norse a 1-0 lead. After Kingsford tied it, Orban scored on a direct kick from 28 yards out to give Suttons Bay a 2-1 edge. Wigton made it 3-1 when she converted off an Alfonseca assist. Two minutes later, Kingsford tallied to cut the lead to 3-2 at half. Alfonseca netted the lone second-half goal with about 10 minutes to go, sealing the win. Katie Stillin assisted. Stillin, Megan Holtz, Erin Sneed and Cody Sprattmoran were credited with strong games.
|
|
