2011 Girls Stats

The Blazers of Livonia Ladywood came into the Jungle Thursday night for a district semifinal matchup.  This was the first time these two teams ever met.  It would be a tall order for the Lions as the Blazers came in ranked #4 in the state in division 2. 

 

South Lyon came out swinging as they put pressure on the Blazers back line right from the kickoff.  It took 10 seconds for the Lions to get their first shot on goal when Andrea Pesch kicked off to Courtney Horaney running down the right side.  Horaney then crossed the ball to Madi Blackwell who got the first shot of the game, but was denied by the Ladywood keeper.  South Lyon's Brianna Bias had another scoring chance a few minutes later in the upper right corner, but the Blazer's keeper was again up to the task.  South Lyon was strong in the back as well keeping Ladywoods two all state strikers at bay. 

 

However with 17 minutes left in the first half, Ladywood scored their first of 3 first half goals to end the half.  All state striker Kelly Capoccia struck a ball from 25 yards out that found the upper corner of the goal and a 1-0 Ladywood lead.  The other all state player for the Blazers Paige Brennan scored 7 minutes later to make it 2-0.  The Blazers made it 3-0 just before half to take a commanding lead.

 

"We executed our game plan very well for the first part of the half," commented Lions Coach Tracee Senter.  "We were getting chances and limiting theirs and holding our shape well.  Their first goal was pretty impressive and we lost some composure after that giving up the next two."

 

The second half the Lions came out to prove their was no quit in them.  Less then 5 minutes into the second, Pesch took a corner kick and Horaney swiftly deposited it in back of the Blazers net to cut the lead to 3-1.  South Lyon played much better defensively in the second, but Ladywood got an insurance goal from Brennan with 20 minutes left in the match and that would round out the scoring for a 4-1 Blazers win.

 

"It was a 10 minute span in the first half that hurt us," commented Senter.  "We had spells like that a lot during the season.  With the youth of our team we will look to play the entire 80 minutes strong and be able to stay in games like today.  I am very proud of the four seniors on this team.  They were leaders for the younger players right up to the last whistle.  They showed everyone how to act win or lose and definitly how to never give up."

 

South Lyon finished the season 5-14-3.  Ladywood advanced to the district final where they defeated Dearborn Divine Child on Saturday 1-0 in overtime.  Ladywood will now advance to the Regional Semi final (sweet 16) in Chelsea next week.

 

The scoring started five minutes into the first half when Junior Katie Stiefel dropped a pass back to Senior Colleen Sullivan put a rocket into the net for a 1-0 Lions lead.  The Lions scored 3 minutes later when Sophomore Andrea Pesch sent in a corner kick that was finished off by Freshman Lauren Stancato.  Pesch then finished off a goal of her own with an assist going to Sophomore Sydney Angove.  Pesch sent in another corner kick and Senior Shellee Merryman headed the ball into the net.  Then with 3 minutes left in the first half Junior Madi Blackwell crossed the ball to Sophomore Amanda Hunsinger who made it 5-0 Lions at the half.

 

The second half saw John Glenn get a little stingier defensively, but with 16 minutes left in the game Seniors Kara Sullivan and Merryman combined passes and found Stancato to make it a 6-0 final for the Lions.  Sophomore Courtney Horaney and Junior Stiefel each played a half in the shutout effort.  The Lions are now 3-13-3 on the season and will take on the winner of Waterford Kettering and Milford Wednesday night in the Jungle. 

 

 

The South Lyon girls soccer team hosted back to back games Thursday and Friday and came away with a couple of tough losses and even tougher injuries to teammates.

 

On Thursday Livonia Stevenson came to the Jungle to wrap up KLAA Central Division play.  The first contest a couple of weeks ago with these two, the game ended in a scoreless tie.  The first half in the Jungle was no different ending 0-0.  The second half saw the Spartans finally get a goal 18 minutes into the half off a corner kick.  With the Lions pressuring Livonia scored a 2nd goal with 1:19 remaining on a nice counter with the Lions all up trying to tie the game. 

 

Friday night saw the first ever match up between South Lyon and Waterford Mott at the Jungle.  Again these teams battled to a 0-0 halftime score.  In the second half, it was the Lions getting on the scoreboard when sophmore Andrea Pesch sent in a corner kick and senior Shellee Merryman hit the volley to put the Lions up 1-0.  Waterford Mott equalized the score 1-1 with just 7 minutes left off a corner kick of their own and then got the game winner with just 44 seconds left in the game.  They scored a third goal with 9 seconds left again as the Lions were desperately trying to equalize the game.

 

"We finally started possessing the ball in the offensive end," commented Varsity Coach Tracee Senter.  "Our problem all year has been finishing.  It has been a long learning process, but I am seeing progress.  Hopefully we will have it figured out before districts in a couple weeks."

 

South Lyon is now 2-13-3 on the season and finished 1-8-1 in the KLAA Central.  They will host Westland John Glenn on Monday (senior night) and host a second KLAA crossover on Wednesday to wrap up the regular season.  South Lyon is hosting districts this year and will open district play on Tuesday, May 31st 6pm at home against Redford Union

 

The first half saw the South Lyon East come out strong and with lots of energy.  The Lions were able to weather the storm and settled into the game and started creating opportunities of their own.  In the end, neither team was able to crack the scoreboard in the first half for a 0-0 score.

 

The second half was a back and forth affair again, but 20 minutes in, Cougars Sophomore Katie Walker got a turnover near half field and was able to go all the way to goal and score unassisited for a 1-0 SLE lead.  The Lions tried desperately to tie it up, but were unable to get the equalizer past SLE Sophomore keeper Sam Cook who earned the shutout.  South Lyon Junior Keeper Caitlyn Kort made 8 saves in the Lions loss.

 

"We continue to struggle scoring goals," commented Lions Varsity Coach Tracee Senter.  "We have not scored in our last four games.  We are playing solid defense, but need to learn a team offensive game to match.  We will continue to work on this going into the second half of the season.  My hats off to East, they really played hard tonight to earn the victory."

 

South Lyon East is now 6-4 on the season and 1-4 in the KLAA Central.  South Lyon moves to 2-8-3 and is 1-4-1 in the KLAA Central.

South Lyon traveled to Livonia Stevenson to finish out the first leg of KLAA Central Division play on Tuesday and earned a tie with the Spartans in a hard fought 0-0 game.

 

The Lyons came out with confidence remembering their 2-1 defeat in the last 14 seconds last year at Stevenson.  The determination to erase that heartbreaking defeat was evident in the Lions.  Most of the play was in the middle of the field as both teams seemed to be even up.  Livonia started pressuring first as they forced South Lyon Keeper Caitlyn Kort to make a couple of diving saves to keep the score at zeros.  South Lyon had two runs late in the first half by freshman Lauren Stancato, but were turned away by the Spartan defense. 

 

The second half saw South Lyon do very well with a possession game, but they were not rewarded with many scoring chances.  With 7 minutes to go in the game, sophomore Rebecca Pavlock took a free kick that was turned away by the crossbar, missing the goal by inches.  Stevenson then turned it up but again was turned away by Kort who made 13 saves on the night earning her third shutout of the season.

 

South Lyon is now 2-7-3 on the season and 1-3-1 in the KLAA Central and will start the second round of league play Thursday when they host South Lyon East.

The South Lyon girls soccer team had a busy week of non-league action out in the harsh conditions of spring in Michigan.  They finished the week 0-2-1, but did a lot of growing up in the process, seeing improvement as the week went on.

 

On Monday the Lions traveled to Fenton to take on the Tigers.  Fenton scored two goals late in the first half and then scored 3 goals in four minutes in the second to beat the Lions 5-1.  "We started out well, but then got frustrated with each other and things steamrolled on us," commented Senter.  "Given that we have 8 sophomores and 2 freshman on the roster we are still learning on the fly.  This was a good learning experience for us on keeping our composure with each other."  Junior Celina Pollard scored in the second half for the Lions with an assist going to Freshman Lauren Stancato. 

 

The next night the Lions had to turn around and travel to division 1 power Hartland.  Not only did they have to battle one of the best up and coming teams in the state, the weather was 36 degrees and raining.  The Lions could not get much offense going, but stayed fairly strong defensively losing 3-0 to the Eagles.  South Lyon Junior keeper Caitlyn Kort made 17 saves in the defensive effort.  "After the game the night before and given the conditions I was slightly worried going into this game," said Senter.  "We were tired and frustrated from the night before, and given the harsh weather conditions it would have been easy for the girls to give up and lose big.  "I was very proud of the way the responded to the adversity and stayed in this game.  It says a lot about their character and preserverance."

 

Thursday night the Pinckney Pirates came into the Jungle looking to keep their 4 game unbeaten streak alive.  The Pirates scored with 7 minutes left in the game to go up 1-0, but the Lions stuck with it scoring with just 48 seconds left to earn the 1-1 tie.  The first half saw a lot of back and forth play and limited scoring opportunities for each team.  The best scoring chance of the first half went to the Lions as Sophomore Andrea Pesch sent a corner kick in to Sophomore Rebecca Pavlock.  Pavlock put a header on goal that hit the crossbar and bounced straight down to the goal line but did not cross the line.  The second half went much the same way with Pinckney scoring with 7 minutes left in the match.  They then went into a shell trying to preserve their slim lead, but the Lions kept up the pressure.  Pollard and Senior Colleen Sullivan combined to find Sophomore Courtney Horaney who fired a shot that hit the back of the net with just 48 seconds left in the match to salvage a 1-1 tie.  "Pinckney came off a tie with Hartland last week," said Senter.  "This was great for us to keep composure and earn the tie.  It shows we definitely made strides this week and got better.  We are maturing as a team and will use this experience as building blocks for our future."

 

South Lyon is now 2-5-2 on the season and will travel to Salem on Monday and will host Novi next Thursday.  Next Saturday the Lions will go to the Bay City Invitational for a 8 team tournament.

 

 

 

The first game featured two teams that have never played before in South Lyon and Laingsburg.  After a scoreless first half the Lions wasted no time in the second half scoring just a minute into the match sophmores Courntey Horaney and Andrea Pesch assisted on senior captain Kara Sullivan's goal.  Just 8 minutes later Pesch scored an unassisted goal off a corner kick.  Sophmore Mckenna Nuttal assisted freshman Lauren Stancato who scored her first career goal for South Lyon and a 3-0 South Lyon win.  Junior Keeper Caitlyn Kort earned her second shutout of the season.

 

The second game was like the first when South Lyon faced off against former KVC foe Howell.  After another scoreless first half the Lions again wasted no time in the second when sophmore Rebecca Pavlock assisted junior Madi Blackwell who scored her first ever career goal for a 1-0 South Lyon lead.  The Highlanders tied it up 8 minutes later and then neither team was able to score again and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.  To determine who advanced to the final match a shutout took place in which the Lions won on after 6 shooters a side.  The dramatic win put the Lions in the final against Chelsea.

 

Just like the first two matches, neither team was able to score.  Unlike the others the Lions were not able to get it going in the second either as Chelsea scored the only goal of the second half and the game to win 1-0.  Chelsea was presented the trophy by tournament organizer Steve Horaney in front of the Bulldogs and Lions fans.

 

"We had a strong day defensively," commented Varsity Coach Tracee Senter.  "If we can generate some more offense, we will be in good shape.  It will be the little things in the runs off the ball and creativity in front of goal that we will need to work on.  I am proud of the team and my hat goes off to Chelsea for winning the tournament."

 

South Lyon was 1-1-1 on the day and is now 2-3-1 overall.  They play three games next week when they travel to Fenton on Monday, Hartland on Tuesday, and host Pinckney on Thursday. 

The Northville Mustangs came into the Jungle with their top 10 ranking on Thursday night and were given all they could handle in the first half before going on a scoring berage in the second for a 7-1 win over the Lions.

 

The Lions came out strong and confident out of the gate holding strong and equaling opportunities on goal with the Mustangs.  They were rewarded 7 minutes in when sophmore Andrea Pesch and freshman Lauren Stancato both assisted on a goal by freshman Breanna Bias to give the Lions a 1-0 lead.  The goal energized the Lions and the teams battled througout the half.  Northville tied the game up 20 minutes later with a goal by freshman Megan Buckingham.  That would be all the scoring for the first half with the stanza ending in a 1-1 tie.

 

The second half the Mustangs were backed by a strong wind and they took full advantage attacking the Lions net.  The Lions stood strong for the first 20 minutes of the second half and then ran out of gas against the potent Mustang attack.  Senior midfielder Becky Reynolds scored the eventual game winner for Northville halfway through the second half.  That goal stung the Lions and Northville put on an offensive show scoring 5 more times before the end of the game for a 7-1 win. 

 

"We played well and held tight for 60 minutes, but it is an 80 minute game," commented Varsity Coach Tracee Senter.  "We will need to learn to stay strong for the entire match if we want to get the desired results."

 

South Lyon moves to 1-1 in the KLAA Central and 1-2 overall.  They will play in the first annual Jungle Classic this Saturday and will open the tournament against Laingsburg that morning at 9:30am. 

 

The Lakeland Eagles soared into the Jungle on a cold Monday for the Lions season soccer opener.  After a scoreless first half, Lakeland was able to make an early second half goal stand for a 1-0 win.

 

The Lions came out strong early and put massive pressure on the Eagles but were only rewarded with a post and a crossbar.  Senior Kara Sullivan took an Andrea Pesch (sophomore) cross and nearly headed it in the goal but just missed wide.  Sophomore defender Rachel Hay fired a shot from 20 yards out that hit the crossbar.  Lakeland also came close with a post of their own in the first half, but neither team could put one in and the half ended 0-0.  "Having one of those go in would have changed everything," commented Varsity Coach Tracee Senter.  "As the game wore on we seemed to lose confidence in ourselves and our teammates."

 

The second half saw the Eagles get the only goal of the game just 7 minutes into the half on a nice combination play in front of net.  Even though the Lions matched Lakeland with 6 shots each, the Eagles were the only ones to make one count for a 1-0 win.  South Lyon starts the season at 0-1 and will now not play again until after spring break when they travel to crosstown rival South Lyon East for an April 12th matchup with the Cougars.