HOWELL — The Lansing Catholic boys soccer team knocked off a few top-10 ranked teams in recent weeks while making a run to its first state semifinal since 2016.
The Cougars weren’t able to build off their regional wins over No. 7-ranked Alma and No. 9-ranked Frankenmith while facing the most challenging of their state tournament tests in No. 2-ranked Detroit Country Day.
Detroit Country Day scored early and was dominant while earning a spot in the Division 3 state championship game with a 7-0 win over Lansing Catholic on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at Howell’s Parker Middle School..
The win sends the Yellowjackets (21-2-1) to their second state championship game in three seasons and has them a win away from their first title since they finished as the Division 2 champion in 2018.
“It’s special,” Detroit Country Day coach Steve Bossert said. “This group of seniors, this is their third state semifinal. They lost as freshmen in the state semis, they lost in the finals as sophomores and they lost to the eventual state champions last year. They’ve been through a lot. They are battle tested. We are really excited about them making it this far and finishing the deal.”
Tino Haratsaris scored two goals and led a balanced scorring attack in the state semifinal that exemplified what Country Day has gotten throughout ths season whie finding success and earning a championship game date with South Haven at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1 at Grand Ledge High School.
Country Day scored twice in the opening 5 minutes to set the tone and that included a goal by Rye Clegg 1:45 into the semifinal. The Yellowjackets had five goals in the opening half and scored their final two goals in the opening 11 minutes of the second half.
“Country Day is a fantastic team,” Lansing Catholic coach Gus Flores said. “The message to (our) boys was hold your heads high, you had a great run. (You) come across a team that is as talented and gifted as they are and its hard. I wish we could have sent the six seniors off with a little tighter game but hats off to (Country Day).”
For the Yellowjackets, the win was part of the mission they’ve had since falling to eventual state champion Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in a district final in 2024. Detroit Country Day avenaged that loss earlier this month with its overtime win in a district final and followed with victories in the regional over No. 4 Ann Arbor Greenhills and No. 6 Grosse Ile in last week’s regional before the state semifinal win.
“We know we had a big loss last year to Notre Dame in one of the first playoff games,” Country Day goalie Mitchell Hamway said. “All season we were thinking about how we were going to win that game. After that we just knew we got it.”
The goal for Lansing Catholic (12-5-1) is to build on its best tournament run in nearly a decade so it can become a program that achieves consistent success like Country Day.
“For those guys it didn’t happen overnight that they’re fantastic,” Flores said. “We have to keep working and tomorrow starts a new season. That has to get into our culture. I’m so proud of the boys, but hats off to (Country Day). They deserved it. They were in every position more matured, more experienced than us and seven nil explains that.”
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway and Bluesky @briancalloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Detroit Country Day boys soccer takes down Lansing Catholic to reach state title game
Reporting by Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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