The Dow soccer team was rolling down the stretch of the 2013 soccer season, however, the Chargers fell 3-2 to Heritage in the district semifinals.
“It was very difficult to have the season come to an end,” first-year head coach Marshall Gray said. “We had a lot of success and were playing our best soccer right up to the end. It is especially hard to say goodbye to these seniors who poured their heart and soul into the program and continued Dow High’s soccer excellence.”
The Chargers finished the season 12-5-6, going 8-0-6 in their last 14 regular season contests. Their record was good enought for second place in the Saginaw Valley League North.
Brandon Derstine, a junior, led the team with 19 goals and six assists. Sean Zanyk McLean, a senior, had 11 goals and four assists, and junior Nick Coon had eight goals and seven assists. Ricky Knoff was the team’s top goalkeeper, saving 86 percent of shots faced.
“Our goalkeeping was stellar the whole year with Knoff,” Gray said. “Our defense was rock solid most of the year with Trevor Hulbert, Cole Lacey, Ethan Loftis, and Dylan Hammer. Our midfield was very strong and distributed well [thanks to] Sean McLean, Brandon Woo, Griffin Kendziorski. Our forwards were very creative and played well off each other [behind] Brandon Derstine and Nick Coon.”
“We had a core group of seniors that had been in the program for a number of years,” Gray said. “We also have a very talented junior group and several sophomores that gave us key minutes in several key games. Despite only having four home games, our guys grew together and gained a lot of confidence as we traveled around the state and played topnotch talent.”
Coach Gray felt that playing top teams led to some of the team’s success in the later stages of the season. “One of my goals as a coach is to schedule the top teams in the state,” he said. “This year, we played the top teams in Division 1, 2, and 3. I want our guys to get exposure throughout the state, and playing the top teams is the only way to do it.”
Losing seniors comes with the territory in high school sports, but Gray is hoping that his returning players can continue Dow’s soccer prominence.
“Looking forward to next year, we return 11 players,” he said. “We have some holes to fill, but our returners and junior varsity talent coming up will give us another opportunity to have a successful season.”