Mythical national title wasn't a thought for Novi soccer at the start

The journey to a mythical national championship doesn't always start with zero question marks.

Novi (Mich.) capped off its 20-0-2 season with a Michigan Division 1 title to complete the most impressive campaign among spring programs in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Girls Soccer Rankings. The end result is characterized by unparalleled success, undoubtedly. But the beginnings didn't give a sure indication that Novi would compete at a national level.

The Wildcats had to replace the entire defense coming into the season, and there were early issues with getting the new players comfortable. It was anything but easy early, and a national title wasn't in consideration.

"Those were the furthest thoughts from my mind when the season started. In four games we gave up four goals but our defense was a mess. I had no idea that we would get where we got to," head coach Brian O'Leary said. "But the defensive unit got better and better with more games and more situations."

It certainly did, allowing just eight goals in the next 20 games, including one in four state-playoff contests.

MaxPreps girls soccer state championships update

Novi started the season as the 19th-ranked team in the Xcellent 25, on April 21. Michigan starts its season much later than other states, so in the inaugural rankings it was nearly impossible for 2-0-1 Novi to overtake teams that had records like 13-0 and 16-0-1.

After starting 19th, here's the entries on Novi for the rest of the season by soccer correspondent Matt Smith. Rankings were not done between June 1 and June 23:

     — April 28: 17th. "Poor weather and a lot of schools on spring break have kept the Michigan defending champs from getting any matches in, but they will start coming fast and furious very soon."
   
     — May 5: 11th. "The biggest jump of the week goes to Novi of Michigan, as the Wildcats move up six spots after a trio of Division I commits led them to three wins. Novi has only played six games this year, due to weather and spring break, but is clearly one of the top teams in country and with a lot of games in hand, has a chance to move up quite a bit."

     — May 12: 6th. "The Wildcats jump another five spots after leaping six spots last week. A team regarded as easily one of the best in the nation has been rolling lately. Novi avenged its only tie with a 3-2 win over Northville behind two goals from Erin Dircks and two assists by Nicki Caruso. It also beat South Lyon East 5-0 and Saline 2-0, recently."

     — May 19: 11th. "Just a small slip for the Wildcats, who couldn't find their goal in a 0-0 tie with Plymouth, but before that were a pair of 4-0 wins over Livonia Stevenson and Plymouth Salem."

     — May 26: 6th. "After a draw with Plymouth last week, the Wildcats bounced back in fine fashion, winning four games. They won the four games by a combined 27-4 score, beating South Lyon 8-0, South Lyon East 8-1 and Skyline of Ann Arbor 5-1. The fourth game was a first-place crossover game with Plymouth Canton, which resulted in a 6-2 win thanks to three goals by Nikki Greenhalgh and two assists by Nicki Caruso."

     — June 1: 1st. "The top three teams are all brand new, including a new No. 1 team for the second time this year, as Novi of Michigan becomes the third team to try the top spot on for size. ... The Wildcats are this week's new top team after they won the KLAA championship, winning a pair of first-place crossover games and jumping up to No. 2 in the rankings. Novi beat Canton 6-2 and then edged Brighton 2-1 to stay undefeated on the year."

Defense is what secured the 1-0 title-game victory over Troy, another Top-25 team. Greenhalgh scored for Novi in the 22nd minute and after that, the Wildcats and all-state goalkeeper Gabby Gauruder succeeded in preventing Troy from getting the equalizer. Kaylin Hoomaian, Katie Seelenbinder, Marissa Nussio and Katie Rudzinski were credited with solid play on defense.

The combination of a stellar coach with a reputation for winning, six Division I recruits and a program-wide focus on improvement and development turned out to be the winning formula for Novi. O'Leary, a 42-year-old who just finished his 11th season as coach at the school, has led Novi to five state titles in the last seven years and a 205-23-18 record. The five titles are one off matching the state record held by two other coaches and the Novi math teacher was the 2008 National Federation of State High School Associations 2008 Central Sectional Coach of the Year.

He certainly looks better with the likes of all-state seniors Greenhalgh, Gauruder, Caruso and Molli Krick wearing the Novi uniform.

Greenhalgh is signed with Wisconsin, Caruso and Gauruder are headed to Michigan State and Krick is signed to go to Eastern Michigan. Krick made the third team, while the others were first-team performers. Junior Kelli Timar has given a verbal to MSU and Jessica Jarvis has given a verbal to Bowling Green.

O'Leary was not an overbearing coach and that helped the squad stay focused, Caruso said.

"He would say things differently than other coaches would. He never really yelled, sort of laid back," said Caruso, who tallied 19 goals and 31 assists. "He let us play, then at halftime or the end of games or practice we would talk about things to fix. He was always positive and he was very encouraging. If we made mistakes he wouldn't let us get down on ourselves, just shake it off and fix it next time."

Success has bred success at Novi, which is about 30 miles away from downtown Detroit. Adding a mythical national championship can only help, O'Leary said.

"In my 11 years, soccer has grown a ton in this community. Kids see the success that the high school teams have and they want to be a part of that," he said. "They see the way we do things and I like to think we do things the right way. It keeps your numbers up. When I started coaching girls soccer maybe half played year-round, whereas all of them now play year-round.

"The tradition feeds itself. Even though you're graduating high-level players, you're replacing them with young talent."

Novi knew it had talent, especially on the offensive end. The question was if the Wildcats could get a team effort on defense. The 2011 mythical national title certainly answered the question.

"I never knew that (a mythical national title) was possible. I heard in school that people said we were No. 1 and I didn't believe it at first. Coach said with online rankings you don't know what is true," Caruso said. "I didn't believe after the game, but we're No. 1 and it's exciting not to be known in just one area but everywhere."