High School Girls Soccer Districts underway
The high school sports season for the 2022-23 school year is coming to an end. It only was a little more than two months ago that the season was just getting underway in the somewhat rainy, somewhat snowy, but still cold Michigan springtime.
The girls soccer districts began on Tuesday with a handful of games and there are more today. Here’s a look at the area girls soccer district pairings
Division 2 at Lakeshore
Round 1
5/24 – Paw Paw at Otsego, 4:00 p.m.
5/24 – Plainwell at St. Joseph, 6:00 p.m.
5/25 – Edwardsburg at Niles, 5:00
Lakeshore (bye)
Round 2 – 5/30
Lakeshore vs. Niles/Edwardsburg winner, 5:00 p.m.
Plainwell/St. Joseph winner vs. Otsego/Paw Paw winner, 7:00 p.m.
Championship – 6/1, 6:30 p.m.
Lakeshore finally gets the chance to host the district tournament at the new Mark Lehmann Memorial soccer complex, the Lancers were originally supposed to host this district in 2020, but the season was cancelled because of the pandemic.
St. Joe is the three time defending district champion in this district, but the makeup of the district is a bit different than in years past. Sturgis and Vicksburg used to call this district home, as did Mattawan, but the MHSAA realigned things this year which brought in Plainwell and Otsego. Mattawan also went up to Division 1.
Lakeshore earned the top seed in the district and the first round bye, but given St. Joe’s quest for four straight championships, and Plainwell’s relief they no longer share a district with Gull Lake or Marshall, set up this bracket to be wide open. Starting with tonight’s St. Joe/Plainwell game.
Division 3 at Three Rivers
Round 1
5/23 – Three Rivers 9, Parchment 1
5/24 – Berrien Springs at Buchanan, 5:00 p.m.
5/25 – Dowagiac at Constantine, 5:00 p.m.
South Haven (bye)
Round 2 – 5/30
South Haven vs. Buchanan/Berrien Springs winner, 5:00 p.m.
Three Rivers vs. Dowagiac/Constantine winner, 7:00 p.m.
Championship – 6/1, 6:00 p.m.
South Haven earned the top seed in the district, thanks to the Rams leaving the Wolverine conference a few years ago, they been able to develop their program some after being overwhelmed by the aforementioned Plainwell and Vicksburg. The Rams will get the winner of Buchanan and Berrien Springs, who have already met once this season with Berrien Springs earning the win.
On the other side, Three Rivers already advanced with a win over Parchment by mercy rule. Dowagiac is the defending district champion and a win against a struggling Constantine team would put them in the semifinal against Three Rivers, who they lost to 1-0 in the opening game of the season.
Division 4 at Our Lady of the Lake
Round 1
5/25 – Brandywine at Bridgman, 5:30 p.m.
5/26 – Marcellus at New Buffalo, 6:00 p.m.
Our Lady of the Lake (bye), Michigan Lutheran (bye)
Round 2 – 5/30
Our Lady of the Lake vs. Bridgman/Brandywine winner, 5:00 p.m. (at OLL)
Michigan Lutheran vs. Marcellus/New Buffalo winner, 5:00 p.m. (at ML)
Championship – 6/1, 3:30 p.m.
Our Lady of the Lake is the top seed in this six team district, Michigan Lutheran as the 2nd seed also earned a bye, and both were deserving, after all OLL and ML are the two team in the district win winning records. Plus with the Our Lady of the Lake soccer field at SS John and Bernard Catholic church without lights, only one game can be held there each night.
It would be safe to say a ML and OLL rematch (for the third time) is likely.
Division 4 at Hartford
Round 1
5/24 – Coloma at Watervliet, 5:30 p.m.
5/26 – Covert at Bangor, 5:00 p.m.
5/24 – Lawton at Hartford, 5:00 p.m.
5/26 – Kalamazoo Heritage at Bloomingdale, 6:00 p.m.
Round 2 – 5/30
Coloma/Watervliet winner vs. Covert/Bangor winner, 4:00 p.m.
Lawton/Hartford winner vs. Bloomingdale/Kal Heritage winner, 6:00 p.m.
Championship – 6/1, 5:00 p.m.
This is probably one district that you can say it’s a toss up. While Watervliet is the top seed, they have had their struggles this season, but the same is true for everybody else.
The one intriguing thing in this district is that Bloomingdale has been showing steady improvement throughout it’s first year of varsity soccer. What better way to crown an inaugural season than with a district championship.
