Jeff Chaney
Sports Scene
Morgan McKerchie has had to alter her game a bit this year, but that’s fine with the Powers Catholic sophomore as long as her team keeps winning.
As a freshman on the Powers girls soccer team, McKerchie broke on to the high school soccer scene by scoring 20 goals and helping her team win the Division 3 state championship over five-time reigning champion Unity Christian.
This season, opposing defenses are paying much more attention McKerchie, forcing her to pass the ball to teammates.
She’s fine with that.
“In my book, an assist is just as fine as a goal,” said McKerchie, who scored has four goals and five assists in leading Powers to a 3-0-2 record. “As long as I’m helping my team win, that’s fine.”
It’s that kind of attitude that excites Chargers coach Art Moody to have McKerchie on his team for two more years after this season.
“Between last year and this year, last year she came in and no one knew who she was and produced at a high level,” Moody said. “This year people know who she is, and she’s seeing more pressure on the ball. She has been very unselfish this year; she is really looking to move the ball around.”
McKerchie, who was named first-team all-state last year, says she recognized the added pressure right from the start of the season.
“I feel a little more pressure, but that leaves another person open, so that’s our team advantage if the other team wants to man-mark me,” said McKerchie, whose big game last year was a five-goal game against Frankenmuth in the regional semifinal. “I’ll just get the ball to one of my teammates.”
That added pressure also spills over to the team each time it takes to the pitch.
“Its nice, I like having every team wanting to come beat you,” McKerchie said. “That makes our team play better – we have to come together as team more. We have to work that much harder in practice, because every team wants to beat us.”
As the first soccer team in the Flint area to win a state championship, it’s a new feeling to be the team with the bull’s-eye on its back.
“When teams come in to play against Flint Powers, they know they are playing against the state champions,” Moody said. “And if they can compete with us, they know they can play. This year we see that; they are out for us to get the win against a state champion, but we enjoy that type of intensity.”
As for defending its title, “Coach Art always tells us to go game by game,” McKerchie said. “We always sets our expectations high to win the state championship again, so that’s what we are going for.”