CLARKSTON — Paige Sundman is discouraged from heading the ball on the soccer field.
The Hartland senior has had concussions in the past and received a scare when she was struck in the face with the ball with 7 minutes and 47 seconds left in the first half of a regional semifinal against Brighton on Tuesday, June 2.
It was a relief for Sundman and her teammates that this blow to the head wasn’t serious.
“One of my friends on the other team, Lexi (Martin), hit the ball toward my face,” Sundman said. “I went down. Sophomore year, I went down with a concussion toward the end of the season. It was nerve racking. I was like, ‘Oh, shoot.’ I don’t want to be out for the rest of it. I was just lucky I felt fine after a few minutes.”
Sundman returned shortly and ultimately scored a goal that would be the biggest in the career of most high school players, except this wasn’t her first clutch goal in a regional game.
With overtime looming, Sundman scored with 1:30 left in the game to give Hartland a 4-3 victory over rival Brighton at Clarkston High School.
Sundman used her head — literally — to put the ball into the lower left corner of the net. Senior defender Eva Larson took a free kick from 56 yards out, the ball was headed by Brighton’s Grace Domanski and over to Sundman, who scored on a header.
“She’s had some (concussions) in the past, so we’re always kind of on guard about that, which is generally why we don’t like her using her head,” Hartland coach Andrew Kartsounes said. “In this case, we’ll take that header.”
So, which goal was bigger? The game-winner against Brighton or the game-winner in the regional championship game against Bloomfield Hills two years ago?
In that game, Bloomfield Hills goalie Jenica Opdahl was still retreating back toward her net after taking a free kick about 50 yards from the Hartland goal when the Eagles countered quickly.
Opdahl was about 30 yards out of her net when Sundman scored into the vacant net from about 40 yards out. That goal, her second of the game, came with 17:47 left and gave Hartland a 2-1 victory on its way to the state championship game.
Sundman didn’t succumb to recency bias when comparing the two goals.
“I’d say Bloomfield is the top one,” she said. “That was cool, just from half field and I sent it over the goalie.”
Sundman has been an integral part of Hartland’s success in recent years, scoring 27 goals and 14 assists the past three seasons. She’s helped the Eagles reach three straight regional championship games, part of a run of five in six seasons.
“You just see the way she works,” Kartsounes said. “She’s an example for the rest of the team. She just works and works and works. It doesn’t matter the situation, up down, whatever we’re doing. Paige is going to give 100% all the time. She does that in practice and she really picks up the play of those around her.”
Hartland came into the historic matchup with Brighton ranked No. 7 in Division 1, while the Bulldogs were 8-8. It was the first time two Livingston County teams met after the district round of the state tournament.
But Brighton had won four consecutive games and was a much more dangerous team than the one that began the season 2-6. Even though Hartland carried much of the play, the Bulldogs were opportunistic, tying the game 3-3 with 14:39 remaining on a goal by Kate Malachino off a corner kick.
After Sundman scored the go-ahead goal, the Bulldogs nearly got the equalizer when Maya Bjedov raced for a ball bouncing toward the Hartland net. Eagles goalie Haley DePestel closed the gap enough to get low and block a shot from in tight with 36 seconds left.
“They just committed to staying the course, doing the right things every day at practice, at training, every match,” Brighton coach Steve Horn said. “It paid off. We won a few games in a row at the end and came out here and had a chance to win a regional semifinal. All credit to them. They’ve given phenomenal effort all year long.”
Brighton got an early boost of momentum when Bjedov scored with 33:53 left in the first half. Larson tied it with 22:52 left in the half and Claire L’Esperance gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead with 21:07 remaining. Bjedov’s second goal tied it just 16 seconds later.
Mallory Frantti gave Hartland a 3-2 halftime lead when she scored on a header off a corner kick with 7:56 left in the half.
Hartland will play for the regional championship at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 4 against Northville at Clarkston.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Hartland soccer’s Paige Sundman survives scare, nets winner vs. Brighton
Reporting by Bill Khan, Livingston Daily / Livingston Daily
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
