After blanking South Lyon East, 7-0, in the MHSAA Division 1 girls soccer district final on Thursday, May 28, Northville grabbed the championship trophy, skipped its regular postgame huddle with coach Jeannine Reddy and immediately started to celebrate.
The Mustangs (17-1-1) snapped selfies and group photos with the trophy while blasting “We Not Done” by Detroit rapper 42 Dugg through a Bluetooth speaker, a fitting anthem considering they had to reset their season two weeks ago.
Northville was hoping to finish an undefeated regular season with a win in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association tournament championship on May 14, but Hartland scored three first-half goals for a 3-0 upset to claim the conference crown.
No one wants to lose, especially with a trophy on the line, but the defeat served as a wake-up call for the Mustangs, who have looked sharper ever since entering the postseason with a bitter taste in their mouths.
“I think we wasted the first 40 minutes of that game and didn’t get any kind of shots on goal,” Reddy said. “But during the past couple of games, and especially in our practices, we’ve been focusing on taking care of the ball in and around the goal. If we’re going to take a shot, it needs to be meaningful – it needs to be in the goal.”
The Mustangs have certainly taken meaningful shots in the playoffs, beating rival Novi, 6-2, in the district semifinal before shutting out South Lyon East.
Northville scored three first-half goals against the Cougars, including Savannah Hoover cleaning up a loose ball inside the penalty box before scoring again in the final moments before halftime.
Eastern Michigan signee Lauren Yaquinto scored 94 seconds into the second half, then delivered arguably the best pass of the night, zipping a ball down the line to Taylor Morrison, whose point-blank finish showed exactly why they call it “the beautiful game.”
Northville looked nothing like the team that lost to Hartland, which it also tied 1-1 on April 9.
“I think we were just flat the whole first half against Hartland and started playing better in the second half,” Reddy said. “It was one of those things that we hadn’t lost up until that point. It’s not that we wanted to lose, but I think it’s humbling at the same time, like, ‘Hey, anyone is beatable, and you just have to play your game all 80 minutes.’”
Through two postseason games, the Mustangs have played a strong 160 minutes.
Also scoring against East were Karina Chang, Juliana Bohlen and Sophia Jiang.
“Defensively, we’ve just been communicating better all over the field as a team,” Reddy added. “We’ve just been trying to do a lot of possession stuff and team bonding stuff [since that loss to Hartland], and I think that it’s helped us a lot.”
Northville advanced to regionals for the fourth time in five seasons under Reddy, who is eager to see how her team responds to a tougher challenge.
The Mustangs will face either host Clarkston or Oxford in the regional semifinal on Tuesday. A win would likely set up another matchup with Hartland in the championship.
“We’ve got to take it one game at a time, but, obviously, the region is going to be difficult,” Reddy said. “Hartland is over there, and we’d see them if they made the finals, and that would be awesome if [we could beat them] we make it that far, too. We’ve moved on from that loss – I think we even moved on from it by the second half of that game – but it would be awesome if we could get a win after a tie and a loss to them.”
Expect the Mustangs to be rooting for Hartland to beat Brighton in its regional semifinal, which will be played at the same site just before Northville takes the field against Clarkston or Oxford.
After scoring the first goal against the Eagles during the regular season, the Mustangs have surrendered four straight goals to Hartland, costing them two victories and a conference title.
If they’re going to keep playing 42 Dugg deep into June, they’ll have to prove they’re really not done by finally getting past Hartland.
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life. Follow him on his new X.com account at @folsomwrites.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Northville girls soccer blanks South Lyon East for district title
Reporting by Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
