HARTLAND — Brooke Anderson was playing defense for Hartland’s soccer team, but has opportunities in practice to show off her ability to shoot the ball.
The Eagles’ coaches had seen enough and recently moved the senior co-captain up to forward, a position she’s played in the past.
“My coach saw me having a really good shot in practice,” Anderson said. “He said, ‘You know what, we’re going to play you up at forward.’ I guess it’s a good idea.”
Indeed, it was.
The decision paid off when Anderson scored the tie-breaking goal with 23 minutes and 28 seconds left in a 3-2 victory over Brighton on Tuesday, April 21.
The Eagles controlled much of the play, but were locked in a 1-1 tie as the game approached the midway mark of the second half.
Paige Sundman ran down a ball on the right side of the field and delivered a pass into the box. Anderson struck a bouncing ball and lofted it into the far side of the net to put Hartland ahead.
“I saw Paige played it in,” Anderson said. “I was waiting for it to come to me. It had a little bounce, so I knew I had to hit it kind of in the middle of the ball instead of on the bottom. Then it just kind of curved up and went around the back of the net.”
It was the first goal of the season for Anderson, who was playing her second game in a row at forward after bouncing back-and-forth between positions.
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“I have had chances, but none of them have gone in yet,” she said. “It felt really good.”
Anderson’s versatility makes her a valuable part of a team that is ranked 11th in Division 1 and is off to a 6-2-1 start while playing four state-ranked teams.
“She was just working hard in practice and finishing some shots in practice,” Hartland coach Andrew Kartsounes said. “She can play in a couple different places, wherever we need her as a captain this year. She had a beautiful finish today.”
Elise L’Esperance scored off a pass from Izzy Armstrong to give Hartland a 3-1 lead with 15:53 left in the game. That proved to be an important insurance goal, because Brighton’s Maya Bjedov scored with 33 seconds remaining.
The victory moved Hartland into a first-place tie with seventh-ranked Northville at 3-0-1 in the KLAA West. Salem (3-1) suffered its first loss Tuesday, a 4-2 decision to Northville.
Brighton is 2-4, but rivalry games don’t always go according to how teams match up on paper. The Bulldogs struck first when Lizzy Seiter scored on a free kick from just outside the box with 23:10 left in the first half. Hartland tied it quickly on a goal by Claire L’Esperance with 20:28 remaining in the half.
“The message was to keep doing what we’re doing,” Kartsounes said. “We were obviously getting a lot of the ball. We were getting a lot of the chances. We had eight corner kicks in the first half. It’s just a matter of we needed to finish a few. We needed to calm down and take our opportunities.”
Hartland has won the last four meetings between the rivals and is 5-0-1 in its last six games against Brighton since losing 3-0 in a 2023 district semifinal.
“We’re a young group,” first-year Brighton coach Steve Horn said. “It’s our first time playing together. We have a lot of new players who weren’t here last year. We’re really growing. We’re figuring it out together. It’s funny, because one of the girls said today, ‘We feel like we’re really starting to figure it out together.’ A game against Hartland like that could be a good boost for us.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Senior’s first goal gives Hartland lead in soccer win over Brighton
Reporting by Bill Khan, Livingston Daily / Livingston Daily
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
