EAST LANSING — History was made at the MHSAA Division 1 girls soccer state championship with just one goal.
The Byron Center Bulldogs captured the team’s first state championship, defeating the Saline Hornets ,1-0, on Saturday, June 14, in the final game of the state tournament at DeMartin Soccer Complex on the campus of Michigan State.
Freshman defender Ashtyn Stuck scored the history-making goal for her team in the 31st minute.
After the game, she was full of excitement and eager to celebrate with her teammates.
“I’m so happy. I’m beyond grateful that I was apart of this team my freshman season,” Stuck said. “This is such a big family, this is my second family. I love them all so much. I love celebrating with them and I can’t wait to do more with them.”
After losing in the first round of the district tournament last season, coach John Conlon sought redemption for what he said were errors on his end.
“I really felt like I probably did a terrible job last year and I thought I had to be dialed in this year,” Conlon said. “I really took that loss as my mistake in how I handled some things. So I just wanted to make sure we covered everything from March to June and we didn’t leave anything uncovered.”
The Bulldogs won all 10 conference matchups and finished the season 21-1-3.
Throughout the season, as the team played closely contested games, Conlon reminded his team of the fickleness of the sport.
“We talked about this back in March, that soccer is a fickle game, you can dominate and lose 1-0 or you can dominate and win 1-0,” Conlon said. “I don’t think they understood that at first, but they do now and ground out some big wins against good teams.”
As the team prepared for its playoff run, Stuck said the message for the team’s success was clear.
“When it came to districts, regionals [and] states, we knew we had to put it away,” Stuck said, “we knew we had to get there.”
Stuck said that the team’s chemistry was a contributing factor to this season’s success, but that was driven by an unofficial member of the team that joined following a 4-0 victory over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.
“(The) Lorax — from the Dr. Seuss book and film — has made a big impact on us, got us all closer” Stuck said, “… and honestly, it’s helped us and kept us motivated this season.
Conlon’s name will be a part of school history next to the team’s first championship, but the coach deflected credit for the success.
“I won’t take any credit, the girls did it,” he said. “They’re playing in 80 degree heat, played six games. … It’s all the girls, they deserve all of it.”
Nominate a high school athlete for the Detroit Free Press boys and girls athlete of the week.
Eric Guzmán covers youth sports culture at the Free Press as a corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support this work.
Contact Eric Guzmán: eguzman@freepress.com; 313-222-1850. Follow him on X: @EricGuzman90.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA girls soccer: Byron Center claims first state title with 1-0 D-1 win over Saline
Reporting by Eric Guzmán, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
