East Grand Rapids dethrones defending champ Forest Hills Central in girls soccer regional semifinals

CEDAR SPRINGS, MI – There will be a new girls soccer state champion in Division 2, after East Grand Rapids ended Forest Hills Central's bid for consecutive crowns with a 3-0 win in Tuesday's regional semifinal at Cedar Springs.

Central nearly netted its first offensive opportunity, as Haley Ward sent a sharp-angled shot off of a cluster of legs in front of the net less than a minute in, but EGR goalkeeper Makenna Gessner saved the deflected ball on what proved to be the Rangers’ best chance of the night.

Two minutes later, fourth-ranked EGR capitalized on an early opportunity in what would become a theme for the game, as freshman Reese Lynn got her foot on a rebound along the goal line to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead.

The 12th-ranked Rangers nearly tied the game in the 10th minute, when a Pioneers player sent a header off the post from a nicely placed corner kick, and the Rangers continued to possess the ball for much of the middle part of the first half, earning two more corners in the process.

But it was EGR that found the back of the net next, as Kersten Sykes stole the ball just inside the 18-yard line after Central defensive miscommunication and tucked a shot inside the far post in the 30th minute.

"Most of the season, we’ve been on the other side of punishing teams early and getting on the board early," Central coach Ashley Ludtke said. "It's a huge momentum boost to score early in games and late in halves, and we were on the other end of that, unfortunately, in a regional semifinal game.

"The message at halftime was that we have 40 more minutes of soccer to play, and we have had games where we score more than two goals in a half. We might have dug ourselves into a hole a little bit, but we can get ourselves out of it."

PHOTOS: See our gallery from the East Grand Rapid vs. Forest Hills Central regional semifinal

The Rangers took Ludtke's message to heart and played with a renewed energy early in the second half, earning a corner kick in the first minutes, then getting good scoring chance from star senior Dailey Tucker, who struck a volley from 12 yards out, only for Gessner to come up with a save.

Another defensive miscommunication by Central allowed EGR's Avery Leete to intercept the ball and go one-on-one with Rangers keeper Lara Butlevics, who came up with a point-blank save to keep her team's season alive.

But EGR's counterattack continued to take advantage of a Central squad pressing for that first goal, and the Pioneers made it a 3-0 game in the 49th minute, when freshman Gracie Lynn, Reese's twin sister, sent a beautiful cross from the right wing over to a streaking Mollie Brandstadt, who hammered the ball inside the post with her left foot.

"Once we came into halftime and knew we were doing a great job defensively, it was about patience," EGR coach Fabian Rodriguez said. "No matter what they were going to do, we were going to be patient and keep looking for the counter. We knew it would be a matter of time before they moved more players forward and took defenders out for an extra player at the top, so we just continued to look for the counters. I thought they did a great job with that."

The Pioneers nearly added another goal off a cross from the right wing that looked almost identical, except this time Butlevics made a sprawling save to stop Reese Lynn from sending a volley into the back of the net.

"Both twins and the rest of our attackers are super creative up top," Rodriguez said. "Once we can break through that midfield and get into that final third, all our players can change a game When you least expect it, they’ll come up with something special or something magical, and it's nice to have them on our team, for sure."

With its win, EGR reaches the regional finals for the first time since finishing as the state runner-up in 2009, and Rodriguez said it's the team's chemistry that sets them apart this year.

"I think it's a combination of some special seniors that we have and so many of our JV players from last year getting that training on the JV level with the same playing style as the varsity, plus some new additions," Rodriguez said. "We’re in a unique space where we have such good chemistry and selfless players that are willing to sacrifice anything for their teammates. It just makes it a really good group.

"I’ve been coaching for a long time, and you only get these teams every 5-10 years, so you want to take advantage of it and see how far we can go."

Up next for the Pioneers is Thursday's Division 2 regional championship matchup with Spring Lake, which defeated Bay City Western, 2-1, on Tuesday.

"At this point in the year, you have to bring your absolute best game," Ludtke said. "I thought we could’ve dug a little bit more to capitalize on chances. This time of year, you have to finish when you have opportunities, and you have to have bounces go your way at times.

"We had some uncharacteristic decisions on the ball that good teams are going to punish you for. (EGR) is an exceptional team. They’re not the fourth-ranked team in the state by accident. They’ve had a really good season, so we can walk away from here with our head held high knowing that we lost to a really good team. They made a lot of things very difficult for us today, and I hope they go all the way."

Central wraps up its season at 12-6-3 and with a fourth consecutive district championship trophy.

The Rangers fell short of the season's final weekend this year, but with only three starters back, Central figured to be a much different team in 2023.

"It's hard to rebound and repeat and walk into a season with a brand-new team and not feel some expectations that were left from the team before. But that's the way it is," Ludtke said. "I thought our team did a good job of sticking with it and staying on the grind all year. We stumbled through a lot of games early on in our season, and it took us a while to find our rhythm and what works for us. I think we found our stride at the right time at the end of the season here, and I was really proud of the girls for keeping their heads in the game and staying together as a team. We made a really good push this season when a lot of people didn't expect us to. We stuck together and stayed together, and I couldn't be more proud of their efforts to finish the season the way we did here."

Central loses five seniors – Butlevics, Tucker, Frankie Sutton, Mackenzie Wintrich and Marissa Lunt – from what is relatively small graduating class compared to recent years.

"The past two years, we’ve graduated 11 and 10 seniors, so this, in comparison, is a smaller senior class, but just as important as the seniors before them," Ludtke said. "They’ll always be a huge part of our program, and we are so appreciative of everything they’ve given to this program."

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