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Jun 01, 2023

Anchor Bay defeats Troy Athens in shootout to move into regional soccer final

Anchor Bay is a soccer team built on resiliency and there’s no better example of

Anchor Bay is a soccer team built on resiliency and there's no better example of that than Micayla McGee.

McGee bounced back from a hard collision on the sideline to score the deciding goal in a shootout Tuesday to give the Tars a 4-3 win against Troy Athens in a District 1 regional semifinal at Rochester High School. Anchor Bay will play Stoney Creek, a 1-0 winner against West Bloomfield, in the championship game Thursday at 7 p.m.

"It was a pretty rough shot, but I knew the team needed me to be in that game so I needed to get back up," McGee said. "I just got the wind knocked out of me for a little bit."

Once she got up, McGee went directly to the scorer's table, ready to re-enter the game at the next opportunity.

Her Tars teammates showed their resiliency when they overcame a 2-0 lead by the Red Hawks with three straight goals, then bounced back again after Athens’ Hannah Dombrowski tied the game at 3-3 only 29 seconds after Anchor Bay had taken a 3-2 lead on a goal by Gabrielle Anulare with 24:32 remaining in the second half.

"Since March we’ve devoted 20 minutes of training to the mental side," said Tars coach Kevin Grammens. "You could see the resiliency when we were down 2-nil. We didn't waver. If the mental component isn't there those two goals turn into three.

"We talk about how we respond and how that response looks. The whole game we didn't waver. Last year, when Rochester scored a minute into the second half when it was 0-0 in regionals we had a huge mistake in terms of our response. We learned from that."

Neither team scored in the final 24 minutes of regulation or during the two 10-minute overtime periods. Athens’ first two penalty kicks in the shootout sailed over the net. Anchor Bay's first three shooters — Makenna Kennedy, Tori Kebbe and Kyra Wolf — all scored. The Red Hawks answered with goals by Emily Mendrick and Dombrowski, but it wasn't enough as McGee secured the victory with her kick.

It took a moment or two for the reality of the situation to hit McGee,

"It was almost a little bit of a shock," she said with a smile. "I don't think I realized it until (the referee) blew the whistle and I had everybody run after me. It was pretty incredible.

"It's pretty awesome. I’m excited to compete in the regional final and I’m sure the rest of the team is excited, too. I love this team. This team is everything I’ve ever wanted. It's my home away from home, my second family. We want to stay in this tournament."

Photos of Anchor Bay's regional soccer victory over Troy Athens

Athens opened the scoring with 11:47 left in the first half on a header by Lauren DeJonckheere off a shot by Mendrick. Amanda Leonard headed in Mendrick's corner kick to make it 2-0 with 5:36 to go in the half. Anchor Bay got one back before halftime on a header by Gabrielle Thiede off Anulare's corner.

Kennedy's high shot from about 25 yards out tied the game at 2-2 in the 14th minute of the second half and another long drive by Anulare gave the Tars the lead.

"Credit to them. They’re always organized and they defend hard," said Athens coach Todd Heugh. "It's not like us to blow two-goal leads. We defend hard, too, but they came back and scored three straight goals. I was proud of our kids to come back and tie it shortly after they took the lead and to kind of get the momentum back.

"In the overtime they were organized and tough but I thought we had the better chances — a lot of corner kicks and a lot of long throws. The (goal) that got called back (in the second overtime) looked like it went out of bounds and came back in. At this stage of the tournament, you’ve got to have a little luck, too."

The two teams opened the season with a 1-1 tie.

"Athens improved immensely after that game and we have too," Grammens said. "We saw how they gave up a few of their goals against Rochester. We thought that's how we could score against them and it came to fruition. Give our shooters some credit for getting after it. We’ve had a hard time scoring at times. We made a few changes and if you throw the ball at the net good things can happen."

Anchor Bay takes a 12-2-7 record into Thursday's final. Athens finished 17-3-2.

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