Southfield

Brose feels like Southfield Christian soccer team is set for playoffs

By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Andrew Potter Southfield Christian’s John Devine, right, battles for the ball with a Northwest player earlier this season. The Eagles face Liggett Oct. 15 in a playoff opener. Photo by Andrew Potter Southfield Christian’s John Devine, right, battles for the ball with a Northwest player earlier this season. The Eagles face Liggett Oct. 15 in a playoff opener.

SOUTHFIELD — With the regular season now pretty much complete, Southfield Christian soccer coach Dennis Brose can look back and be pretty happy with how his team has developed.

“I think we’re in a position where we’re on the right track,” Brose said last week. “It took some time to break some old habits, get our lineup set and so on, but we feel pretty comfortable right now. We’ve played some real strong teams, and we’re heading in the right direction.”

At press time, the Eagles were 7-7 overall, maintaining their .500 record from earlier in the season despite playing a schedule Brose termed pretty difficult.

The team is taking steps in the right direction, the coach explained, constantly building for what has been the main focus of the entire fall — the postseason.

“We’ve been strong against the better teams on the schedule,” Brose said. “I don’t think we’ve totally showed our hand just yet. We’ve been able to adjust as the season’s gone on, and the guys are looking forward to the district round.”

The Eagles play at the Madison Heights Bishop Foley district, opening the Division 4 tournament at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 15 against Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett.

The semifinal is scheduled for Oct. 17, and the final is set for Oct. 20.

Game times were not available at press time.

“This is definitely a team that can win a district title,” he boasted. “We’ve had some success against the teams we’re likely going to face in the district. My guess is, if we are able to make it, we’ll see Birmingham Roeper in the finals, and that’s a team we beat 2-0 this year.”

He’s not getting ahead of himself, but Brose said he knows this is a team capable of a long playoff run, not just in the district round.

At 7-7, he said the year has been a constant test, a chance to try different lineups with different matchups and put guys in different roles along the way.

Now, the test begins.

“We’re ready,” he said. “We’ve got a group that can really make some noise. Now it’s on us to go out and do it.”

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1038. Follow Mike on Twitter.