BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR
Twitter: @MiSoccerNetwork
DAVISON, Mich. – Davison began the season with a victory over rival Grand Blanc and wound up handing the Bobcats another defeat to end their season in the state tournament.
The Cardinals never trailed in defeating Grand Blanc twice this season – the second time ever that has happened in program history and second time in three years they were able to post the sweep. Davison also defeated the Bobcats both in the regular season and postseason during the 2022 campaign.
Davison, which tied for third in the Saginaw Valley League and improved to 14-3-1 this season, will face Lake Orion at 6:45 p.m. Friday in the Division 1 district finals, also at Davison. Lake Orion rallied for a 6-5, double-overtime victory over top-seed Oxford in the first district semifinal Wednesday after being down 5-2 at the half.
“We also did it two years ago,” beamed Davison coach Rob Nuckolls of sweeping Grand Blanc twice in the last three seasons. “We’ve been having success as of late. We’ve got some good players coming in these last few years and we’re competing hard and we’re having more success. And yes, the players we have had overall have been better than in years gone by and it is showing (out on the pitch).
“Tonight, I thought we did a good job of coming out and controlling play at the start of both halves and we were able to score in the first 10 minutes or so in both halves to really set the tone,” continued Nuckolls. “I think especially when you’re playing Grand Blanc, it’s such an emotional game, I think we had to get out and score early. They were on us late in the first half and again in the second half after we were up 3-1 they came at us hard, which is what I expected out of Grand Blanc. They are such a historically strong team and (coach) Greg (Kehler) does such as great job with that program that you knew they would not give up. So, scoring early in each half and being up 3-1 at one point was huge.”
Sophomore Samantha Beller gave Davison a 1-0 lead when she cleaned up an errant clear and turned and fired the ball from the left side of the box over through traffic to inside the right goal post with 30:06 remaining in the first half.
Grand Blanc finally got untracked late in the first half after not creating any chances in the first 30 minutes with a series of three shots. The third shot saw junior Anna Weston scoring off a rebound following a blast by senior Taylor Lewis that ricocheted off the post and back out to Weston.
Davison again came out and controlled play in the second half which resulted with a goal with 35:47 remaining in the contest. Senior Lillian Kish scooped up a lose ball and lasered a shot inside the far post.
The Cardinals scored what proved to be the eventual game-winner with 25:32 remaining on a nice individual effort by junior Nia Smith, who picked up a ball and uncorked a high shot from 35 yards out that sailed just underneath the crossbar.
Davison outshot Grand Blanc 15-10 overall, including 9-8 with shots on frame and even held an 8-3 edge on cornerkicks in the contest. The visiting Bobcats did not go away quietly into the good night without a fight.
Grand Blanc (12-5-4) scored its second goal with 10:22 left when senior and NCAA Division I Illinois State-bound Kendall Croteau sent a sharp cross from the right corner into the box that actually defected off a Davison center back who was trying to avoid colliding with her own goalkeeper, Cally Dorman, in traffic before the ball squirted into the back of the net.
The goal gave the Bobcats new hope, but Grand Blanc could not convert the equalizer, as Davison did a great job of winding off the last three minutes by repeatedly taking the ball into the corners of the field.
“It was a different year because we had to replace so many girls we lost go graduated,” offered Kehler, who previously has guided his program to multiple state runner-up teams and Final Four berths. “Last year we had those 14 seniors and this year we had so many new players or players that were in new rolls this year. We were still competitive, and we battled. We were in I think seven games that ended 1-0, five which we won, and we had something like (11) one-goal games and we also had those four ties. We played (Midland) Dow tough and tied them and Midland was second in our league and we tied them. We played well against some quality teams and we even beat Troy Athens in a non-league game when they were ranked really high. We were still competitive, but we didn’t really have a great (pure) goal-scorer like we’ve had in the past with some of our better teams. Sometimes you have those type of players and sometimes you don’t. The girls worked hard and battled all season and they came a long ways from the beginning of the year when we only had a couple of returning starters. But today was just not our day.
“Davison has come on really strong these last few years and I think they’ve kind of had our number for whatever the reason,” continued Kehler. “They got us twice this year and I think they got us twice in (2022). Rob has done a great job with that program getting them to be one of the better teams in our league.”
Dorman, a junior, gained the win between the pipes for the Cardinals, collecting six saves on eight chances. Junior Paige Bibley made six saves, including a trio of point-blank range shots during the contest to keep the game close for the Bobcats, who graduated 14 players and nine starters from a team that reached the Division 1 regional finals last season.
“It’s nice for the girls to be playing for a district championship and they’ll get to do so on their home field,” noted Nuckolls, whose team lost in the pre-district last season to Flushing and were knocked out in the district semifinals two years ago by Oxford.
“I don’t believe we’ve ever won a district (crown), so this is a great opportunity for these girls,” added Nuckolls.
(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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