Bloomfield Hills Marian Upends Trenton in Soccer Semifinal

got out to a quick start Wednesday night against and cruised to a 5-2 win in the Division 2 state semifinal girls soccer game at .

The victory for Marian sends the team on to play Plainwell on Saturday for the state title, while the Trojans loss wraps up the team’s season.

Since 2003, Marian has captured four state titles, including back-to-back crowns in 2009 and 2010, while Trenton has never won a state title.

On Wednesday, constant pressure early on by the Mustangs inside the Trenton zone allowed the team to get out to an early two-goal lead. 

Marian’s Alexa Finger opened the scoring at the 28:50 mark, putting her squad up 1-0.

“We knew we just wanted to start hard because Trenton was going to be ready for us,” Finger said. “They weren’t going to be backing down or afraid because we were Marian.”

Annika Johnson followed about five minutes with another goal, giving the Mustangs a 2-0 advantage.

Barry Brodsky, coach of the Mustangs, said the plan of applying intense pressure early against Trenton was done in hopes of opening up scoring chances for some of his team’s best players.

“We’ve got some very skilled players and we thought if we could isolate a couple of them, that they were going to have some success, and they did,” Brodsky said.

After the first 20 minutes of play, Trenton did move the ball out of its own zone and opened up a few scoring chances, but it was unable to capitalize and get a shot behind standout Marian net minder Mackenzie Larson.

With about four minutes left in the half, Marian’s Hanna Pateryn launched a long free kick that sailed right into the Trojans’ net and made it 3-0. 

In the second half, the Mustangs added goals from Kelly Sweeney and Mackenzie Pohlman and grabbed a commanding 5-0 lead.

Trenton did manage two goals later in the half, both scored by Natalie Righetti, but it wasn’t enough before time ran out in the game—and in the season.

Righetti said afterward that she is happy about what her team accomplished in 2012, despite the loss Wednesday, and the junior is optimistic that next year’s squad can play deep into the state tournament again.

“We had a really good season, so I’m proud of my team,” Righetti said. “We have a lot of good freshman coming in, so I’m excited. Hopefully we can come back out and do it again.” 

A Look Back

To reach Wednesday’s semifinal game in the state tournament, Trenton beat Taylor Kennedy, New Boston Huron, Allen Park, Ferndale and Dexter. Marian’s road included wins against Bloomfield Hills Andover, Auburn Hills Avondale, Madison Heights Lamphere, Lapeer West and Fenton.

The Championship Game

Saturday’s Division 2 state championship game between Marian and Plainwell will take place at noon at Williamston High School, which is about 60 miles west of Bloomfield Hills.