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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
BUSINESS LINE: (248) 525-2349
CELL PHONE: (248) 884-1051
TW/X: @msn_stickradt @LocalSportsFans @MiSoccerNetwork
BRIGHTON, Mich. – Few schools lost as many varsity soccer players after the 2023 season than Hartland.
A total of 20 players left the program via graduation and only five players – junior forward Avery Bryan, junior midfielder Paulo Gjolaj, junior goalkeeper Trip Tomyn, and senior backs Austin Duff and Daniel Tennis – returned in uniform. Tennis was the only full-time starter back from the 2023 squad.
All seven of the Eagles that earned All-Kensington Lakes Activities Association First Team or Honorable Mention status last year were part of the large group of departures and only Tennis returned after earning All-District accolades from a team that finished 7-9-3 overall and tied for fifth in a loaded KLAA-West Division at 6-6-2.
Hartland finished 1-1 in the state tournament last year, topping Howell (7-1) in a pre-district game before falling to powerful East Lansing (4-1) in the district semifinals. Brighton, which won the district before finishing as the Division 1 state-runner-up, enjoyed plenty of success and accolades. So did KLAA-West rival and champ Northville, which reached the state semifinals.
Life in the KLAA is never easy. Never. The Eagles experience that every year with a multitude of opponents in both boys soccer and girls soccer in the spring that enjoy weeks in the D-1 top 15 or listed as honorable mention in the rankings. It has been that way for years. Even back in the days of the old Western Lakes Activities Association (WLAA) and Kensington Valley Conference (KVC), which merged in 2008 to form the KLAA.
Hartland had to reload from a team that was outscored 41-31 last season, shut out seven times and only recorded two shutouts last year. The Eagles did not set the world on fire a year ago. Multiple other programs from the two-division KLAA shared plenty of limelight last fall.
This year with 15 new players on a roster of mostly newcomers. The Eagles started the year with just five seniors, nine juniors and six sophomore prospects.
And the beginning was rough.
Hartland started the 2024 campaign 0-2-2 where the Eagles were outscored 9-3. That’s to be expected on a team of mostly varsity newcomers. Hartland did rebound by winning the next four games (15-5 scoring edge) and that included handing then-Division 1 second-ranked Plymouth (2-1) its first loss of the season.
The Eagles then hit some more growing pains by losing its next three games by a 13-2 margin, falling to Brimingham Brother Rice (6-1), Northville (4-0) and Salem (3-1) – three historically-strong programs.
Lessons learned.
Since the loss to Salem back on 9-19, Hartland has gone 6-1-1 over their last eight games. The Eagles have outscored the opposition 19-9 with one clean sheet in that stretch. The only loss was to Livonia Stevenson (1-0) in the KLAA crossover of teams that finished third in their respective divisions of the KLAA. Hartland was third in the KLAA-West and Stevenson landed third in the KLAA-East.
The revived Eagles have been on a tear in recent weeks. First, it defeated injury-riddled Brighton in last week’s Division 1 pre-district (3-1) before turning even more heads on Monday night. Hartland handed previously-unbeaten Milford – the Lakes Valley Conference overall champion – its first and only loss of the 2024 campaign, ousting the Mavericks 2-0 in a district semifinals match at Brighton’s Sloan Soccer Stadium.
Hartland, which is now a respectable 10-6-3 overall and has outscored the opposition 39-36 this season thanks to its recent surge, is one win away from a district championship. To put things in perspective, Brighton still had NCAA Division I recruits on its roster, while Milford only conceded eight goals all season and Hartland became the first school to score more than one goal on Milford, which had the No. 1 seed in the district.
A pair of varsity newcomers combined the eventual game-winner in the 15th minute, as junior midfielder Brody DeLaarre scored off a cross from sophomore midfielder Jackson Abbott. Bryan finished off a pass from Gjolaj in the 67th minute to seal the deal. Tomyn notched his second shutout of the campaign on the strength of seven saves.
Hartland will face Okemos (7-8-3), another very young team that has turned it around during the second half of the season with a multitude of sophomores and juniors on the roster. Okemos is a longtime powerhouse with a rich tradition, winning Division 1 state titles in 2004 and 2021 and a Class B-C state crown in 1984 to go along with two more Final Four runs in its history.
The district finals will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Brighton’s Sloan Soccer Stadium. Neither school has been ranked or listed as honorable mention this season.
Okemos also comes in a rejuvenated team on the heels of three straight shutouts wins with a 13-0 scoring edge, including state tournament wins over Howell (8-0) and East Lansing (4-0).
— All Rights Reserved, Premier Media Group / Michigan Soccer Network / National Soccer Network
(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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(Have photos to go with this story? Email pics to Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com and also list photo credit as well.)
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