Country Day falls in 3OTs in D2 championship game

Losing 12-11 in triple overtime to No. 1-ranked East Grand Rapids in the Division 2 state championship match at Rockford may sit with the Detroit Country Day Yellowjackets for a while, but that’s probably OK, given how young a squad it was.

Country Day (16-3) graduates six seniors from the squad that made it to the semis for the first time since 2006, and the finals for the first time since 2005, the first year girls lacrosse was an MHSAA sport.

But the Yellowjackets had eight freshmen and sophomores in the 12-player starting lineup this season, including sophomore Hadley Keating (71 goals, 17 assists), freshman Olivia Winowich (50 goals, 10 assists) and sophomore Emma Arico (48 goals, 23 assists) — all of whom will be back next season.

East Grand Rapids (202) got a goal from senior Lizzie Lundeen 18 seconds into the third overtime period to win the match, winning the Pioneers their third straight title, and eighth in the last 10 years. Arico led the Yellowjackets with three goals and an assist, Ainsley Shilling had two goals and two assists and Mary Pavlou and Winowich had two goals each. Given how young a team it was, though, the future is certainly bright for fourthyear Country Day coach Emma Kuehl, though

“It’s interesting. I think COVID affected a lot of teams and in terms of their junior classes in particular. I have one junior on my squad right now. So we have, you know, really great group of senior leaders and then a stellar group of sophomores and freshmen who really stepped up this year,” Kuehl said after the regional semifinal win over Birmingham Marian.

“I often I forget, you know, that some of them are so young and I do ask a lot of them but they’ve really stepped into some major roles this year. So it’s it’s just been a lot of fun to be a part of that and coach them and see their energy.”

The Yellowjackets used a 10-5 scoring advantage in the second half of an 18-12 semifinal win over Farmington Hills Mercy (14-4) to get to the title game.

Arico, Shilling and Winowich led the Yellowjackets with four goals each, while Hadley Keating and Mary Pavlou had two each, and Georgia Pavlou and Ella Thompson scored once each. Kate Brady had seven goals for Mercy in the loss.

BRIGHTON 14, BLOOMFIELD HILLS 7

The Bloomfield Hills

BlackHawks lost to eventual state champion Brighton, 14-7, in the Division 1 semifinals on Wednesday, June 8, taking their first loss of the season. Brighton (16-4) outscored Bloomfield Hills (16-1-2), 10-5 in the first half, at one point using a seven-goal run to build a 9-2 lead. Gabbie Mainhardt had three goals for Brighton to lead all scorers.

Ella Lucia and Rachel Shepard scored twice each for Bloomfield Hills, while Marlee Watson, Llana Watson and Grace Roberts scored once each.