WILLIAMSTON — Gus Flores has had a lengthy tenure leading the Lansing Catholic boys soccer program.
And when the Cougar boys soccer coach has fielded some of his best teams in his 21 seasons in charge, it has come with groups that have been connected and play for one another.
That has been the case this season.
That approach helped Lansing Catholic bounce back from a 7-10 season in 2024 to emerge as the CAAC White champion this fall. And the Cougars added the program’s first district championship since 2018 to their success last week.
Lansing Catholic took another step on Tuesday, Oct. 21, with a 4-1 victory over No. 7-ranked Alma in a Division 3 regional semifinal at Williamston High School. That win helped the Cougars reach the regional title game for the first time since 2016, which marked the program’s last regional championship.
“Honestly I’m really happy with my team,” Lansing Catholic senior Matias Landolt said. “We’ve been working since the summer. We’ve put so much work into this. It’s my senior year so I’m happy. We were really happy with the district title, but the job is not finished so I’m happy we’re off to the regional final. That’s all I can ask.”
Lansing Catholic (11-4-1) had seniors account for each of its goals while earning a spot in a regional final against No. 9-ranked Frankenmuth on Thursday, Oct. 23, at Williamston. Eli Kluemper and Landolt scored less than a minute apart in the early stages of the game. Gavin Rabideau and Landolt each added a goal in the second half.
“Constantly our motto is kind of stay desperate,” Landolt said. “That’s what we want to do. We lose, we’re out. A lot of us are seniors (and) we really want this. This is the best team we’ve had in a long time. We’ve got to continue to stay desperate.”
Flores has been proud of what his group has shown and how they’ve grown throughout the fall while positioning themselves to play for a regional title.
“They’ve come a long way and the performances at the last bit here is what we wanted,” Flores said. “We had some stumbling blocks along the way in the season, but now we’re kind of peaking.”
Jordan Felters scored the lone goal for Alma (15-6-1) with 4:53 remaining.
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway and Bluesky @briancalloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing Catholic boys soccer stays desperate while adding to success
Reporting by Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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