BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR
Twitter: @MiSoccerNetwork
DAVISON Mich. – In all of her days as a player or coach, Amanda Hutchinson had never witnessed or been apart of anything like it.
Ditto for Lake Orion junior Dylan Verlinden.
Down but not out at 5-2 at the half against arch-rival Oxford, the Dragons stormed back with three second half goals and added the go-ahead tally off the foot of Dylan Verlinden in the first overtime period to knock off Oxford 6-5 in a Division 1 district semifinal at Davison High School.
Lake Orion (15-6-1) advances to Friday’s Division 1 district finals against host Davison (14-3-1), 3-2 winners Wednesday over Grand Blanc. The Dragons have now won 11 straight games where they have outscored the opposition 53-11 in that stretch and now own a 70-25 scoring edge overall this season.
“We weren’t playing all that well early in the season. We tried different lineups and moved some people around, but I think we’ve finally found the right lineup,” noted Hutchinson, who was a co-coach the last two years before taking over solo this season. “We’ve won 11 in a row and we believe we can compete with anyone.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” continued Hutchinson, who was a part of Rochester Adams’ 1999 Division 1 state title team. “That was an incredible comeback. We never gave up. I told the girls we can clean up our defense and just take it one goal at a time. Once we scored to make it 5-3, I could sense we were back in it.”
During a wild first half, Oxford did not trail, taking leads of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-2 and eventually extending it to 5-2 at the break. The Wildcats could not hang on to the lead and momentum of scoring five first-half goals including one in the waning seconds of the first half.
“That’s something we’ve struggled with the entire season,” admitted second-year Oxford coach Gabby Shriver, a former state champion goalie for Novi (2011) and former goalkeeper from Michigan State. “We just haven’t been able to hold on to leads in some games. We’ve given up a lot of second-half goals for whatever reason. We can’t really put a finger on it. That’s been our biggest struggle when we’ve been up by two, three goals and we let teams back into it. We just panicked and don’t hold the lead. Unfortunately, we took a lot of mental breaks defensively and they capitalized on it. They came out hard and wanted to win it. We couldn’t score in the second half, missed a PK, and they took all of our momentum away.”
Most notably, Lake Orion’s offense is clicking on all cylinders having outscored two postseason opponents 11-6, including Lapeer (5-1) last week in the pre-district round and the 6-5 double-overtime victory over Oxford. The sizzling-hot Dragons made the Wildcats pay the price with their scorching offense.
Dylan Verlinden scored the first, fifth and sixth goals for the Dragons, who outscored Oxford 4-0 during the second half and two full 10-minute overtimes periods. Junior twin sister Addison Verlinden scored the second goal and assisted on the third goal, a breakaway goal from junior Mackenzie Tabish with 33:31 still to play in regulation that started the comeback. Junior Paisley Frisch scored the fourth goal after heading home a cornerkick from senior Erin Regalia with 26:52 remaining in regulation that closed the deficit down to 5-4.
Verlinden’s game winner came in the last minute of the first overtime.
“We just talked about at the half about not getting discouraged and to keep our heads up,” said Dylan Verlinden, who know has 15 goals on the campaign. “We just had to take it step by step and focus on the next goal, and the next, and the next. We can’t score three at a time. We have to just go one by one. We just had to encourage our team and we could count on each other to do our parts and made sure Oxford knew that the game wasn’t over and we were going to fight to the end.”
Verlinden had never played in a game in high school or club soccer where her side won 6-5 and had to come back from a three-goal deficit to record the win.
“No. Nothing like this,” she smiled. “This is the most intense game I have ever played in my life.”
Lake Orion finished 1-2-0 at the Rochester Falcons Friendlies back on April 27, dropping the third contest to then state-ranked Salem (3-1). The Dragons have lost since, but it took quite an effort to come back on Oxford in Wednesday’s wild affair.
After Oxford scored its fifth goal on a breakaway tally from senior and NCAA Division II Northwood University-bound Ella Boyd with 15 seconds left in the first half – Oxford’s fifth goal on 10 shot attempts in the first half – the Dragons’ defense clamped down on the speedy Wildcats.
Junior Kylie Kopitzki stopped a penalty kick by Boyd with 13:58 just 52 seconds after the Dragons tied the game at 5-5 on a goal from Dylan Verlinden with 14:50 to play in regulation.
“We just played better in the second half and overtime,” added Hutchinson. “Once we tied it we had all of the momentum and our goalie stopped the (penalty shot) with the game tied and everything seemed to go our way.”
Lake Orion last won a district title two years ago with an 11-5-3 record, eventually losing to eventual state champion Bloomfield Hills (4-2) in the regional semifinals. In 2023, the Dragons beat then state-ranked Rochester Adams (1-0) in its district opener before falling in the district semifinals to then-top-ranked Rochester (4-0).
This time around Lake Orion has earned the right to play for its second district title in three years against a team the Dragons lost to 2-1 in their season opener back on April 3 in Davison (2-1).
“It’s amazing to be playing (for a district title),” added Verlinden. “I was a freshmen the last time we won a district (in 2022) and it was the best feeling in the world. Now we head into the district finals (Friday) and I’m a bigger part of it then I was as a freshman. I think our team is stronger than we were the last two years and I think this is going to be our year.”
Ella Boyd finished with the hattrick in her final prep game. Senior Katie Broth added a goal and two assists, and freshman Olivia Smith also scored for the Wildcats (10-7-2), who were listed as honorable mention in the Division 1 rankings heading into the tournament and were the No. 1 seed in this district. It marked the second straight year that Oxford gave up six goals in its district semifinal game.
(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 of teams or players with Michigan ties, contact Communications Specialist/Web and Content Editor/Director of News Dan Stickradt via email at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com, or call 248-884-1051. 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.)
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