BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR
Twitter: @MiSoccerNetwork
MIDLAND, Mich. – Just two weeks after clinching its third straight unbeaten season in the Saginaw Valley League and third straight league title, Midland Dow finally got over the hump with a district crown to couple with the league success.
District host Midland Dow blanked Traverse City West 1-0 Saturday to earn the school’s first district title since 2021, when the Chargers actually finished third in the SVL but advanced to the regional semifinals before falling to Hudsonville.
Last season, the Chargers lost in the district finals to Midland while two years ago Dow was ousted in the district finals by Traverse City West.
“One of our goals was to win both this year, especially when we ended up winning the Valley (Saginaw Valley League) we really wanted to make history with being the first team to win both at our school since (2013),” noted fourth-year Midland Dow coach Spencer Sandow, whose team was a combined 26-0-6 in league play the last three years but hadn’t won a district title since 2021. “I think the girls stepped up again to the challenge as they have done all season. It was hot out (Saturday) but we battled and came away with the win.”
Freshman Allie Stockton scored in the 65th minute for the game’s only goal, finishing off a cross from Lauren Leuter to help the Chargers win both a league and district crown in the same year for the first time since 2013.
“We have a very talented group of freshmen that have played well this season and Allie had another great game for us,” added Sandow. “She probably played around 75 minutes for us. She rarely comes off the field. We’ve had some injuries this year with players being out of the lineup and we’re not extremely deep. So, some of our girls have (logged) a lot of minutes for us.”
With the help from a stout backline, senior goalkeeper Avery Lehman gained her team’s ninth shutout of the season for Dow, which owns a 52-16 scoring edge this season with a team goals-against-average of 0.89.
Midland Dow, ranked 10th in Division entering the state tournament, will face off June 4 against unranked Grand Haven (10-6-4) in the regional semifinals at Hudsonville. The regional semifinals game will be 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hudsonville.
Grand Haven is coming off its third shootout win of the season on Friday, including a 1-0 victory over No. 8-ranked and previously-unbeaten Rockford (12-1-5), the Ottawa Kent Conference-Red Division champions. Unranked Caledonia and fifth-ranked Portage Central face off at 5 p.m. in the other regional semifinal at Hudsonville.
“We have not played Grand Haven since I’ve been here so I don’t know a ton about them. But they beat Rockford and Rockford was undefeated going into that game, so I expect they’ll be tough,” added the coach . “We’re looking forward to playing them. Everybody is tough that’s left in the final 16 of Division 1 and we had some upsets in districts (feeding) into our region. Caledonia knocked off Hudsonville, and they were No. 1 (all season). And Rockford was really good, so it should be interesting. Portage Central is on the other half of the bracket and they have been ranked high all season. I assume they are the favorite, but anything can happen.”
(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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