By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
In Michigan, it might have been the girls soccer game of the decade.
But not even a team regarded as one of the best in the country could snap Hudsonville Unity Christian's phenomenal winning streak.
The defending Division 3 state champions extended their winning streak to 70 games last weekend with a 2-1 victory over the defending Division 1 state titlists Novi.
The game was at Cedar Springs High School near Grand Rapids, and was part of the fifth annual Coaches vs. Cancer Soccer Classic with all proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society.
Unity Christian goalkeeper Jill Flietstra, a junior already committed to Michigan State University, had 19 saves to help the Crusaders extend their winning streak. The last time the team lost was in the 2004 state title game. They were 28-0 last season, 27-0 in 2005 and are 15-0 so far this spring.
Laura Heyboer, Michigan's 2006 Miss Soccer, scored the second and game-deciding goals for the winners.
Novi, which had not lost since the 2004 postseason, fell to 13-1-1 overall. Some national polls had Unity Christian ranked as high as No. 1 at one point in the season.
"There's a lot of things to explain our success," Unity Christian coach Randy Heethuis said. "But every year is a little different. When we lost in the finals in 2004, we returned virtually our entire team. After that, they knew they had something to play for and we went 27-0. The girls came to play every day and worked hard. They never had an off day. We won the state title handily.
"In 2005, when we won our first game 7-0, we never trailed the entire year. Last year, we were behind our first game with about 20 minutes to play and then came back to win by two. Another game, we trailed 3-1 in the second half but the girls came back. Coming back last year, I had no idea we would go undefeated again. Half our team this year is basically new. But success breeds success. The girls believe in themselves."
Heethuis would like to see his team pick up its offensive production.
"Defensively, we're solid," he said. "We stress total team attack and total team defense. Another key to our success is we've been pretty balanced. We have five or six girls capable of scoring on any given day."
In addition to Heyboer, other dangerous scorers for Unity Christian include Kelly Honderd and Mindy Capisciolto.
Softball
Wayland reigned supreme a year ago in Division 2 as state champions and is out to a 17-3 mark so far this season. With seven starters back, coach Cheri Ritz likes her team's potential again.
Senior Brittini Merchant, a senior, is leading Wayland in hitting. She has a full ride scholarship to Central Michigan University and has close to a .500 batting average. Heidi Warmelunk is also batting over .400 for the defending state champs.
"Heidi has improved quite a lot and is performing up to her potential," Ritz said.
Ritz hopes her team can contend for another title but admits getting out of the area won't be easy with teams like Unity Christian, Wyoming Park, and Wyoming Rogers looming.
Boys Track
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern lost by a single point last week in its bid for an O-K White Conference title by dropping the last event, the 1,600-meter relay by five seconds to league champion Greenville, a Division I school.
But FHN, a Division 2 school, still figures on having a good chance to win another state title. The Huskies shared the Division 2 crown with Ypsilanti last season.
"We have a lot of returning athletes," said first-year FHN coach Tony Sultini. "We're not as powerful as in past years. We graduated eight to 10 quality athletes from last season.
"We're a good team. We'll have to make sure we are where we want to be at by the end of the year. We're doing what we need to do. We're peaking at the right time."
Standout athletes for FHN include Josh Hembrough, considered a state champion contender in the 100, 200, and 400 meter sprints.
Boys Lacrosse
Birmingham Brother Rice won the state's Division I lacrosse title last year with a 21-2 record and coach Rob Ambrose would love to guide his team to another title.
"We lost some key leadership from last season," Ambrose said. "We kept getting better as the season went on. We got better and continue to improve."
This season, Brother Rice has started out 15-0 and last week won the Detroit Catholic League title game over Detroit Catholic Central.
Standouts include senior All-American Connor David on defense and junior Michael Hamilton at midfield. Senior Nick Shea and junior Devon Peurach are also having outstanding seasons.
Can Brother Rice repeat as state champs?
"We're hoping. That's our goal," Ambrose said. "We need to keep betting better. We have some big challenges ahead of us."
Boys Tennis
Bloomfield Hills Andover has been a state power in past years in Division 3 and coach Steve Herdoiza puts his team in regional action this weekend with aspirations of state glory.
In his first three seasons as coach, Andover has won a pair of state titles (2004, 2005), and finished second once (2006).
"Any team that gets 18 points in the regionals will go to the state finals (June 1-2). We'd be disappointed if we didn't go again to the state finals. We expect to go," Herdoiza said. "We're a much better team now than we were at the beginning of the season. We're beginning to peak at the right time."
The No. 4 doubles team of Scott Kirsch and Cole Neumann is at 11-0.
Detroit Country Day leads the cast of challengers looking to deny Andover its third state title in four years.