Poches Named All-County Player of the Year; Boys and Girls Lacrosse Win

BOYS BASKETBALL — Senior guard Matt Poches — who led Hartland to an unexpected district title championship after the team battled through an up-and-down season — was picked Friday as the All-County Player of the Year by the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

Click here for the story. For our video of the district title win, click here.

GIRLS LACROSSE — Hartland defeated Grand Blanc 14-10 at Hartland High School on Friday to improve its record to 2-1 on the season, according to hartlandlacrosse.com.

Courtney Lee, Haley Crouse and Ryan Skomial each scored three goals while Taylor Pryde and Rachel Sharpe both added two and Natalie Sochacki netted one, the site said.

The Eagles next play 7 p.m. Monday at South Lyon.

BOYS LACROSSE — Austin MacDonald scored six goals as Hartland defeated Howell, 15-3, on Friday night.

Chris Griffin added two goals and three assists; Jack Bontekoe scored two goals and two assists; Josh Domke had three assists; and Jordan Martin had one goal and seven takeaways.

The Eagles (2-3) host Waterford on Monday. 

GIRLS SOFTBALL — Hartland defeated Lakeland 11-3 Friday. The win moves Hartland to 5-0 on the season. The Eagles next play Lake Fenton in adoubleheader that begins 4 p.m. Monday.

For a photo gallery of the game, click here.

BOYS BASEBALL — Hartland won in extra innings against Lakeland 4-1 Friday to keep the Eagles undefeated on the season. Hartland is scheduled to play 10 a.m. Satuday in the Adrian Maples Invitational at Adrian High School.

For a photo gallery of the game, click here.

Thursday

GIRLS SKIING — Mallory Reader who spearheaded Hartland's unexpected run to the state finals has been named the female skier of the year by the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

Click here for the story.

GIRLS TENNIS — Hartland's Justine Mixter and Alex Cook won the No. 5 doubles flight against Grand Blanc.

That was the only flight the Eagles won as the team fell to the Bobcats, 8-1, in a Kensington Lakes Activities Association West Division contest.

"Grand Blanc was the district champ from last year and it returned with a strong lineup," Hartland coach Judy Jagdfeld said. "They lost a lot of seniors last year and just seemed to reload. Our inexperience showed in this match. It gives us a lot to work on before we meet them again."

At No. 2 singles, Hartland freshman Rachel Byron went three sets against Grand Blanc sophomore Ruchi Ahluwalia, losing 7-6 (5), 2-6, 3-6. 

Hartland (1-1) is off until Tuesday when it travels to Howell.

GIRLS SOCCER — Hartland tied Pinckney 1-1 on Thursday at home, according to @hartlandsports.

The tie moves Hartland to 1-0-1 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association West Division and 2-0-2 overall on the year.

The Eagles next play 11 a.m. Saturday at Waterford Kettering.

Wednesday

GIRLS SOFTBALL — Hartland captured both games of a doubleheader with two shutouts vs. Pinckney on Wednesday, according to coach Carl Gabrielson.

The Eagles won the first game 1-0 with Sarah Tomlinson knocking in Laura Oliver as the game-winning run. Pitcher Abbie Minsker, Gabrielson said, gave up five hits and struck out 10.

Hartland won the second game 2-0 with Minsker allowing two hits striking out seven, Gabrielson said.

The Eagles scored their first run on Kayla Gustitus' RBI single scored Shelby Hard who was on base after a double. Gustitus scored the team's second run on a wild pitch after a triple, he said.

Hartland's record is now 4-0 and 2-0 in Kensington Lakes Activities Association Lakes Division. The Eagles next play 4 p.m. Friday at Lakeland.

BOYS BASEBALL — Hartland swept a doubleheader vs. Pinckney on Wednesday at home, according to results on the Kensington Lakes Activities Association website, winning 2-0 and 12-2. The Eagles improve to 4-0 and 2-0 on the season and next play 4 p.m. Friday at Lakeland.

BOYS LACROSSE — Hartland won its first game of the year Wednesday with a 14-10 win over Davsion, according to results provided by the team.

Austin MacDonald scored seven goals for the Eagles — now 1-3 on the year. Also scoring goals were: Jack Bontekoe, who had two, while Chris Griffin, Nick Lipon, Dane Burdo, Mike Bair and Andrew Skowyra netted one each.

Hartland next plays 7 p.m. Friday at Howell.

Tuesday

GIRLS LACROSSE — The Hartland girls lacrosse team jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of Tuesday's game against Brighton, but it was mostly downhill after that for the Eagles.

Brighton senior Shiann Darkangelo scored her team's first goal with 19:40 left in the first half to cut Hartland's advantage to 2-1. Darkangelo scored eight goals as the Bulldogs went on to win, 18-14.

"We didn't play our game," Hartland first-year coach Katie Gutteridge said. "We did at the end, but we have to play that way the whole game. This was only our second game and it's going to take time to get everyone together. They didn't give up, though."

Darkangelo's second goal of the game put the Bulldogs ahead 3-2 with 17 minutes left in the first half and Brighton never trailed again.

"We had more intensity," Darkangelo said. "We had a positive attitude, we were excited and energetic."

Brighton's Carrie Fisher gave her team its largest lead of the game, 16-9, with five minutes left in the second half. 

The Eagles (1-1) scored five goals over the last 4:22 of the game, but it wasn't enough as Darkangelo added two more scores to keep the Bulldogs (4-1) in front.

Hartland hosts Grand Blanc on Friday.

GIRLS TENNIS — Hartland opened the season with an 8-1 win over Kensington Lakes Activities Association West Division foe Pinckney.

"Even though the score was 8-1 tonight it was a very closely played match," Hartland coach Judy Jagdfeld said. "We had three split sets and three tie-breakers."

The Eagles swept the singles matches. Abby Haughie, at No. 1 singles, won in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0; Rachel Byron, at No. 2, won 6-3, 6-2; Kaitlyn Ratliff, at No. 3, won 6-4, 7-6 (1); and, at No. 4, Swan Germain won, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

In doubles matches, Hartland's No. 1 team of Allison Beaver and Caitlyn Distelrath won, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Laura Siefert and Lexie Hayes, at No. 2, won 6-4, 6-3; Mattie Rausch and Cattie Helm, at No. 3, lost 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-3; at No. 4, Briana Conway and Elle Cook won, 7-6 (5), 7-5; and Alex Piper and Justine Mixter won 6-0, 6-4.

"I only have four returning players," Jagdfeld said. "I lost 16 out of 20 to graduation. ... I have 50 percent underclassmen.  I have a very young, but enthusiastic team."

Hartland hosts Grand Blanc on Thursday.

GIRLS SOCCER —Hartland opened Kensington Lakes Activities Association West Division play with a 3-1 win over Grand Blanc on Tuesday.

Jessica Bentley had a goal and an assist and Rachel Klein and Hailey Pleshakov also scored for the Eagles (2-0-1, 1-0 West).

Julie DeBus made eight saves for Hartland, including one on a penalty kick. 

TRACK AND FIELD — Hartland kicked off its track and field season Tuesday at home against Brighton with the boys winning 85-52, but the girls losing to the Bulldogs 79-58.

The boys teamed used a strong field section of the dual to help them edge past Brighton.

“I knew we had a good shot of winning after the field events. We had a 40-5 lead just based on those events. We just nickled and dimed them everywhere else,” Hartland coach Matt Gutteridge said. “We didn’t have our strongest distance team, but our sprints did well.”

Where the boys triumphed the girls struggled. They lost three of the five field events and also struggled in the relay races dropping three of four.

But girls coach Beverly Guile claims that the real dagger was the 400 meter relay.

“We fumbled one of our hand offs, we had a few young kids that came to a dead stop,” Guile said. “That hurts us. We struggled in the field events, too, especially in the long jump.”

Both teams next compete Friday in a 9 a.m. invitational at Saginaw Valley State University.

Monday

BOYS LACROSSE — The Hartland boys lacrosse team lost to Haslett 13-7 on Monday night.

"It’s still early in the season and we’re learning," Hartland coach Mike Holka said. "We continue to work on fundamentals and knowledge of the game."

Austin MacDonald led the Eagles with three goals; Brennan Sopko added one goal and one assist; Chris Griffin had one goal and two assists; CJ Reuschlein added two assists; Jack Bontekoe contributed one goal and one assist; and Nick Lipon added one goal.

Hartland's record fell to 0-3. The Eagles next game is 7 p.m. Wednesday at Davison High School.