D4 girls Soccer Championship

By John K. Schroder

One shot was all Kalamazoo Christian needed to capture its second straight D4 state championship with a 1-0 victory over Madison Heights Bishop Foley at Troy Athens on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Rachael DenHartigh, a diminutive spark plug and catalyst for the Comets, lofted a 25 yard shot that carried over the head of Foley goalie Amanda Mancini and dribbled down the back netting for the only goal of the game at 9:33.

“I’ve had a hard time this season with scoring so the coaches said to ignore everything. Don’t think about it, you know how to play, so just play your game,” recalled DenHartigh with a huge smile. “The last game in the semifinals, I didn’t think at all and I shot and scored (vs. Charlevoix). It feels great that I can NOT think and score. This was the last game ever and I wanted to leave everything out on the field.”

DenHartigh’s late tallies boosted to her season total to 6 goals. “I was within range. The goal I scored in the semifinals was pretty far out past the 18 and I thought, hey, I’ll try it again. “I’ll trust myself and I just took the shot because nobody else had anything on goal yet.” said DenHartigh, still smiling. “The defense played great and my goal was the icing on the cake.”

The Comets defense staved off a late second half surge to preserve the win and deliver the fourth overall state championship (2003, 2004, and 2007) for coach Ron Smilanich. With four state championships in tow, Smilanich moves into second place tie with Tim Storch of Troy Athens and Bob Bukari of Detroit Country Day. Randy Heethuis of Hudsonville Unity Christian also joined the club today when Unity won its fourth consecutive state title and second straight in overtime—this one over Williamston. Rick Larson, a former Foley coach tops the list with five titles.

“I thought we came out pretty good in the first half. That goal Rachael got was huge for us,” said Smilanich. “Our defense has been tremendous and only given up 10 goals all year. I wasn’t too confident until there were just eight seconds left and we had the ball.”

And now the title.

Foley settled for its fourth runners-up trophy to go with its state record 11 championships.

Christian (22-2) took command of the first half and generated a 10-1 shot advantage through 40 minutes. Foley’s only shot at goal in the opening half came just 39 seconds after DenHartigh’s goal shot Christian to a 1-0 lead when Foley’s leading scorer Kyla Cross was left alone in the middle of the box, but her 12 yard shot soared over the crossbar after deflecting off the hands of Christian keeper Mandy Engbers.

Engbers finished the game with just two saves and claimed her 18^th shutout of the season and second straight clean sheet in the Finals. Mancini countered with five saves as Foley was outshot 18-5 in the game. The Comets had surrendered just one goal in six tournament games.

Foley (11-11-1) was the first team ever to reach the finals with double-digit losses. The Ventures best opportunity of the second half bounded off the crossbar when Rachel Goddard’s header caromed out of play with 20:02 to play in regulation.

“I’ve been thanking the girls all week for this. If it wasn’t for them and how hard they kept working when the losses were mounting. Foley isn’t used to 10-loss seasons but the girls kept working,” coach Aaron Miller said proudly of his team’s effort this year. They kept working and kept getting better. Those girls are remarkable and it paid off. They earned the right to be here.”