BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR
Twitter: @MiSoccerNetwork
LIVONIA, Mich. – For a historic program like Livonia Stevenson where expectations are always at a high level, there is added pressure for collecting championship hardware for the trophy case.
Such is the case this season, where Livonia Stevenson captured the Kensington Lakes Activities Association-East Division crown this year. After relinquishing the division title to Belleville last season (Belleville was 13-1-0 and Stevenson was 12-1-1), the Spartans have played significantly better this season even with a rash of injuries. After being down in third place in the KLAA-East entering May, the Spartans have rallied back.
Stevenson holds an impressive 14-2-1 overall record with the KLAA-East and KLAA Tournament titles to boot. The Spartans hold a 68-10 scoring edge with 10 shutouts and carry a 10-game win streak into the Division 1 districts set to start this week.
More importantly, Stevenson is playing its best soccer late in the season. The Spartans downed Hartland 1-0 in the KLAA Tournament final May 18 for their fourth straight shutout.
“We hadn’t won one since I’ve been the coach here,” said Stevenson eighth-year coach Ken Shingledecker of the KLAA Tournament. “I know they’ve won a lot of leagues over the years, but we’ve lost in the conference finals a few times since I’ve been here.”
Back in the old Western Lakes Activities Association, Stevenson was annually a top 3-4 finisher in the deep league with a multitude of division and conference championships during those years. When the KLAA was formed nearly two decades ago and later moved into the East Division and West Division setup, Stevenson has captured numerous KLAA-East titles and advanced to the KLAA Tournament finals several times. The victory over Hartland, which won the KLAA-West this season, enabled Stevenson to capture its first KLAA Tournament crown in nine-plus years.
“It’s been a long time,” noted the coach. “There is a lot of history in this program, but our division (East) is not as strong as the other division (West) and we have lost in the championship (match) several times.”
In the KLAA finals, senior Kelsey Ware, headed to NCAA Division II Tiffin University, scored the lone goal on a penalty kick against Hartland in the 50th minute. That was her team-leading 32nd goal of the season. Senior Chase Gregor recorded a season-best 14 saves for the team’s 10th clean sheet of the season.
The Spartans have outscored their last four opponents 14-0 and during their 10-game win streak, they hold an impressive 39-3 scoring edge with seven shutouts in that period.
Stevenson, which owns nine Final Four appearances in school history, boast seven state finals appearances and four state championships – the Spartans have not won a state championship since 1998 – the 2024 season began a little rocky.
After defeating Wayne Memorial (7-0) in their season and KLAA-East opener, the Spartans dropped a 3-1 decision to defending KLAA-East Division champion Belleville on April 2 and followed that up three days later with a 2-0 loss to Salem in an KLAA crossover match against the Rocks, who were lodged in the top 10 in the state at the time.
Stevenson has not lost since, and besides a 1-1 draw with Dearborn on April 18, the Spartans are 13-0-1 in their last 14 games.
Stevenson brought back its best crew of players since 2020, although that season was wiped out due to Covid lockdowns and restrictions.
“We had a lot of talent that year. I think we could have been a top-five team in 2020, definitely top-10,” noted the coach. “But we’ll never know.
“This year we brought back a solid core. We have a strong group, but nothing depth-wise like some of the other teams in the (West Division) with 90, 100 kids trying out at some of those schools like Northville, Hartland, Canton, Salem, Novi and some of the others. We don’t have the numbers or the depth necessarily as some of the other programs do. But we can compete.”
Northville will host Stevenson in a Division 1 pre-district game May 24 at 4 p.m. Northville defeated Stevenson in the KLAA Tournament finals two years ago and reached the state finals that 2022 season and the Final Four last season. Stevenson has not advanced out of its district in a few years.
“Our district is brutal – so many good teams, and it’s going to be very tough for whoever wins it,” said Shingledecker. “There’s going to be some great games.”
(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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