By John Raffel
It was an eventful soccer season for Williamston, which ended in the regional final.
The Hornets ended the season at 11-8-1 but ended it with a strong postseason. They edged Lansing Catholic 3-2 in a shootout and then blanked Lakewood 8-0 and Portland 4-0 to win the district. They opened the regional with a 5-0 win over Lake Fenton but lost 3-2 to Essexville-Garber, which went to the state final.
“It was a good year,” Williamston coach Steve Horn said. “We had pretty stiff competition during the course of the year in the regular season and we had some pretty good teams. When we got into the postseason, we were ready to make a run.”
A special moment was the 3-2 loss to Essexville-Garber in the regional finals.
“We played some of our best soccer of the year,” Horn said. “The playoff run itself was really phenomenal. It was our best soccer of the season the last five games we played. It all came together and all the work we put through. We played our best soccer at the right time.”
Williamston has been to the regional finals the last three years.
“The program itself has been to the state finals a few times,” Horn said, referring to the 2008 and 2010 teams. “There’s plenty of history in our program.”
Maison Fenech “is one of the best players in the state and has been first-team all-state,” Horn said. “She’s had a phenomenal season.”
Horn expects the tradition to continue and for Williamston to have a strong team for years to come.