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MICHIGAN SOCCER NETWORK: MSN NEWS: www.michigansoccernetwork.com/msnnews
BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR | DIRECTOR OF NEWS
Michigan Soccer Network | Premier Media Group and affiliates
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TW/X: @msn_stickradt @LocalSportsFans @MiSoccerNetwork
ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – Sometimes soccer is a game of patience. Sometimes it can be a game with a little bit of luck needed as well.
Utica Eisenhower benefitted from a lucky bounce Tuesday night – and plenty of patience – and that eventually opened up the floodgates in a 4-0 victory over arch-rival Utica in a Division 1 district semifinals match at Rochester High School.
The 11th-ranked Eagles, winners of the Macomb Area Conference-Red Division for the second year in a row, advance to Saturday’s 1 p.m. district finals at Rochester against longtime nemesis Rochester Adams.
The highly-touted and fifth-ranked Highlanders blanked Sterling Heights Stevenson 4-0 in Tuesday’s first district semifinals game at Rochester and move into this year’s district finals clash defeating the Eagles during the previous two district finals – 5-2 in 2022 and 2-0 in 2023.
Adams went on to win the state title in 2022.
Eisenhower will have three days to train and find a way to end the district hex against Rochester Adams.
“We have to do our best – (Adams is) a very talented team and they have a lot of very talented players,” offered Eisenhower coach Merhdad Negooker on Adams. “We just have to play our game. We can’t focus on how to defend this player or how to defend (that player) that just joined in. We can’t worry about that. They are very talented. We have to play our (style of) game and whatever happens, happens.”
Eisenhower played its style of game against Utica with possession soccer and making quick runs with its speed up top. The Eagles were finally awarded down the stretch with the four goals in the second half.
“It was a combination (of things). Once we scored the first goal obviously Utica opened it up a little bit which makes sense to try to tie the game. Once things started to open up a little bit there were more opportunities to take advantage of it,” said Negooker. “We scored a couple of more goals and put that game away.”
Eisenhower, which has outscored the opposition 50-11 this season with 10 shutouts, finally broke the stalemate with Utica in the 54th minute.
Senior back William Sweis sent a low cornerkick to the near post that ricocheted off the backside of a Utica defender and into the back of the net from less than a yard away from the goal line for the game’s first goal with 26:36 remaining in the second half. That lucky bounce ignited the Eagles’ high-powered offense which scored four times over the final 27 minutes to prevail.
Eisenhower outshot Utica (7-11-2) 16-5 overall in the contest, including 6-1 with shots on goal, and even held a 7-2 advantage off conrerkicks.
All six of the Eagles’ shots on target came in the second half and four found their way into the back of the net. Defensively, Eisenhower limited the Chieftains to just one shot on target early in the second half and frustrated Utica the whole night. Once the levy broke with the first goal, Utica began to push more players forward and that opened up additional real estate for Eisenhower in the attacking third and that helped the Eagles put three more goals away.
Last Wednesday, Eisenhower struggled to put Utica Ford away and settled for a 2-1 shootout victory over the Falcons to escape the pre-district round and advance to the district semifinals. The Eagles defeated Utica for the third time this season where they held an 11-2 scoring edge over the Chieftains, including back-to-back 4-0 victories.
Eisenhower made it 2-0 with 17:25 to go which helped deflate the younger Chieftains. Junior forward JonPaul Yatooma corralled a perfectly-slotted pass from senior forward Pedro Tognolli.
The Eagles padded their lead with 10:09 remaining on the clock when senior forward Zef Gega collected a pass from Yatooma and banged home a shot near the top of the box.
Eisenhower did not take its collective foot off the pedal and cashed in one more time with only 36 seconds remaining. This time freshman forward Adam Gjelaj beat three defenders in the middle of the field before uncorking a left-footed banger from 16 yards out to cap the scoring.
Utica fought through some ups and downs as part of a rebuilding job this season. The Chieftains graduated 17 players after last season and had two other juniors depart to play for the Vardar MLS Next Academy U-17 squad this school year.
“We only brought back three kids from last year and lost most of the guys that played a lot of the minutes. We had 15 new players this season,” noted first-year Utica head coach Dave Moran, who took over Utica’s boys soccer program for Carl Territo and has served as the head coach in girls soccer for Utica for nearly two decades. “We came a long way this season and actually played some good teams pretty tight this year. We upset Romeo a few weeks ago 3-0 when they were ranked in the state and we had some close games with a bunch of other teams. We were just young and it showed at times.
“We played good defense in this game, and we were a little unlucky on that first goal but what are you going to do? Just a bad bounce. Eisenhower is a very talented team with a lot good players and they were able to find ways to score a few late goals (to pull away),” added Moran. “We’ll graduate 11 from this team, but a lot of them were first-year varsity players. We had 15 new players at the beginning of the season. Next year we’ll have a big senior group because we have a lot of juniors in our program this year. But we hope to be even more competitive next year.
Eisenhower senior goalkeeper Alex Malacko notched the shutout with just one save on the evening. Utica junior Luca Vano made two stops in six chances for the Chieftains.
Neither team had a shot on frame in the first half.
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(Have a story suggestion for the Premier Media Group and the Michigan Soccer Network regarding club soccer, high school varsity, amateur soccer, collegiate soccer or professional soccer involving teams, players or coaches with Michigan ties, contact Communications Specialist/Web and Content Editor/Director of News Dan Stickradt via email at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com or dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com, or call 248-884-1051 or 248-525-2349. Dan Stickradt is a 31-year veteran of the Michigan Media circles and recently joined the staff full time in March of 2024. Want to schedule a broadcast game or live show, contact PMG/MSN Director of Broadcasting Jonathan Turner for availability and pricing at jonathan@michigansoccernetwork.com and jonathan@thepremiermediagrp.com.)
(MSN will compile a random sampling of game results from around the state each day. To send in results from high school varsity, club, amateur, pre-pro, semi-pro or professional soccer, email all pertinent details to Communications Specialist / Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com or submit information right on the correct link on the MSN website at https://www.michigansoccernetwork.com/reportascore. Please submit the competing teams, location and date of game, final score, overall and league records, goals, assists, goalkeepers and saves, standout defenders, players of the match, and any other pertinent details of the game. If there are courtesy action photos available, feel free to submit them at the above-listed emails.)
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