Athens Soccer Heads To Regional Finals

STERLING HEIGHTS – Matt Dombrowski was in the right place at the right time.

The senior scored the game winning goal on Wednesday night in overtime to give the Red Hawks varsity boys soccer team a 1-0 win over Livonia Stevenson in the Division 1 regional semifinal game at Utica Stevenson.

“Matt (Perkins) made a great throw in to Tim (Freiman),” Dombrowski said. “Tim had a great flick and I was just in the right place at the right time, it just hit off my knee.” 

Freiman deflected Perkins’ throw off his head to Dombrowski. The midfielder was positioned perfectly in front of the net and tapped in the loose ball.

The Spartans had defenders in front of the net on the play. They appeared to get tangled up with their goalie so no one was able to get in front of the shot. 

“That’s what I figured we might see today, whether it was on their end or our end, you talk so much about pouncing on loose balls and fight, fight, fight,” Red Hawks head coach Todd Heugh said. “Today, it went our way.”

Athens' (15-3-2) goal ended a scoreless tie that lasted nearly 92 minutes. Both teams played tremendous defense and benefited from solid performances in net.

In the first half, it was goal keeper Sam Ward who kept Livonia Stevenson from scoring, but in the second half it was backup Brett Schmitz that kept the Spartans off the board.

Ward injured his calf when he collided with a Stevenson player making a save. He stayed in the game and had trainers work on his leg at halftime. Heugh was worried about his senior keeper so he had Schmitz get ready during the break.

“I had a feeling,” Heugh said. “I made him (Schmitz) stay out here at halftime and I told him you’re going to miss the halftime speech, but you going to warm up just in case I need you to go.”

After splitting time with Ward in the regular season, Schmitz hadn’t played in the playoffs. If the junior had any rust, it didn’t show. He was tested early in the second half and made some key saves.

Livonia Stevenson had three corner kicks in a row 10 minutes into the half. On a shot from Christopher Liepa, Schmitz had to jump about two feet in the air to knock the ball over the crossbar.

“Brett was phenomenal today,” Dombrowski said. “He hasn’t played in a while because we’ve let our senior keeper play. He has a broken finger too. Just fantastic.”

His performance helped the Red Hawks advance to the regional finals for the first time since 2002.

Athens will play the winner of the De La Salle and Utica Eisenhower game on Saturday at 12 p.m. The regional finals will be played at Utica Eisenhower regardless of the outcome.

“I’m a senior so it’s a big deal cause it’s my last year,” Dombrowski said. “We are trying to make a great run and see if we can go all the way.”