Lutheran North blanks Flint Powers to win regional soccer championship
By George Pohly
Lutheran North will play on.
Michael Soboslay scored the first of three first-half goals that carried the Mustangs to a 4-0 victory over Flint Powers Catholic in a Division 3 regional soccer championship game at Atwood Stadium Thursday night.
It was the second consecutive regional title for the Macomb Township team that was jump-started by Soboslay's goal barely six minutes into the contest.
"I wasn't really expecting it to go in," Soboslay said of his shot of about 30 yards. "But I saw an open shot, pretty far out, and I guess I got kind of lucky. It's amazing, back to back. I don't know, maybe we'll win states this year. It feels better (than last year). It's our senior year. We either win or go home."
The Mustangs play either Detroit Frontier or Grosse Ile in a state semifinal at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 at Parker Stadium in Howell.
David Mueller and Blake Hart scored on headers off corner kicks as the Mustangs took control of the match on the Chargers' home field.
"It's unbelievable," Mueller said. "I'm so proud of my team. They came out ready to fight. We worked hard in practice the whole year. We put all we had into this game, and we came out on top."
Soboslay's goal put the Mustangs ahead 1-0 with 33:53 left in the first half.
Mueller, a senior team captain, scored with 30:55 left in in the first half and Hart with 4:36 left.
The Mustangs didn't let up in the second half. They kept the Chargers bottled up, and a Lutheran North shot hit the left goal post with 13:06 left.
"We executed and had good energy," Mustangs coach Brian Horvath said.
"They had a pretty good game plan and I think we were riding high from Tuesday and still coming down from it," Powers coach Tony Rowe said, referring to his team's semifinal win over Williamston. "We didn't keep going forward. But all the credit to them. They played a heck of a game."
Powers finished 10-8-3.
Lutheran North lost to Grosse Ile 2-0 in a 2018 state semifinal.
The Mustangs won the 1987 state Class B championship.
Powers won the state championship in 2017.
Lutheran North was one of two Macomb County teams that played in regional finals.
Chippewa Valley met Troy Athens in Division 1 at Troy.
State finals in all divisions are Nov. 2.
Article originally posted by The Macomb Daily