It was a sad way for the Midland Chemics girls soccer team to end a glorious season,
Coach Rodrigo Barassi’s squad ended its season on June 13 in the Division 1 semifinals to Grand Blanc at Holt 1-0.
But up to that point, it had been quite a season for Midland, which was 18-0-6 going into the semifinals. It was the first time since 1987 the Chemics had gotten that far.
“It’s a group of girls who played together for a long time,” Barassi said. “They’ve been playing travel consistently for many years. These girls play in about four different travel teams and clubs. The girls play just about year around. After the season ends, they’ll take a few weeks off and start training with their clubs again.
“Also, we start conditioning and work on things we can do in early and late fall. We look for winter leagues, too.”
Ellie Wardell was the team’s top scorer this season with 18 goals.
Midland beat Grandville 3-2 in overtime for the regional title. Abbie Fowler had a header for a goal, assisted by Carlee Davis. Maya Albright scored on a free kick for the second half. Albright scored the winning goal with 2:37 left in the second overtime period.
Albright, Fowler and Jorgia Nye have also scored a lot of goals for the Chemics.
Barassi headed into the Grand Blanc game knowing it wouldn’t be easy.
“Every next level we go to, the competition gets slightly stronger,” Barassi said. “We’re aware (Grand Blanc) has been to the finals. But our defense has been superb this season. We gave up 10 goals in 24 games.”
But the 11th goal in the 25th game ended Midland’s season.