Grosse Pointe North soccer cements storybook season with historic state title

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — It’s been a staple at Grosse Pointe North girls soccer practices in the nine seasons that head coach Olivia Dallaire has been at the helm.

Every practice and every tryout always prioritized penalty kicks, and spectators got a firsthand look at how well North executed its shootout routine against Bloomfield Hills Marian, winner of four Division 2 state championships since 2017, in North’s 3-2 win on June 6 in the regional semifinals.

Ten days later, it was only right that 100 minutes couldn’t decide the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 2 State Finals matchup between North (10-7-7) and East Grand Rapids (18-2-3), as they were deadlocked at 2-2, and North knew exactly what to do.

“I was kind of happy that it went into shootouts because, during the game, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, because it was a very close game and we were down two,” senior goalkeeper Grace McCormick said. “When we went into shootouts, I was confident. We practice every single day at penalty kicks — every single day — so I’m pretty confident in my starting five with PKs.”

McCormick, a University of Detroit Mercy commit, kept North’s state finals dreams alive making save after save throughout the entirety of the game, but just needed to get the job done one last time.

After senior Mia Stephanoff secured a goal to give North the 3-2 advantage in the shootout, it was all up to McCormick to make one more save to seal the win.

With a quick dive to the right, she did just that, giving North not only a 3-2 win, but the school’s first-ever state title on June 16 at Michigan State University.

“She’s a left-footed girl, and she went pretty far right, so I baited her to the right because I thought she was going to shoot right, well to my right, her left,” McCormick said. “I baited and made one side of the net look bigger, and then I reacted. If she shoots to that side, I’m already kind of guessing that it’s going there, so I can make the further dive since I’m predicting it.”

Like most of their games this season, North came into the game as an underdog in large part due to the fact that they were only the second team since 1991, as far back as published results with team records go, to reach the MHSAA state finals with fewer than 10 wins.

Holding only four wins during the regular season and competing in a brutal division, the Macomb Area Conference-Red, North understood the role of being the underdog, so it wasn’t unfamiliar territory when East Grand Rapids took an early 2-0 lead in the first half.

“We’ve been the underdog all season,” Dallaire said. “We’ve won four games coming up into the playoffs. Four games, that was it. We’ve been the underdog in every single game we stepped on the field to play. We switched our formation at halftime to a 4-4-2, and I think that was the difference.”

As North seemed to play on its heels early, freshman Meredith Dodenhoff kept up the intensity on the front line, and it paid off as Dodenhoff scored off an assist from junior Amelia Streberger with 15 minutes left in the first half.

Dodenhoff’s older sister, senior Olivia Dodenhoff, was sidelined this season with an ACL injury, and Meredith Dodenhoff said she had to secure one for her big sister.

“I feel bad for her that she tore her ACL, but she’s been pushing through this season,” Dodenhoff said. “She told me to work hard, and I really did it for her because I just feel so bad, because it’s her senior season.”

The teams traded scoring chances with North having great looks, but a corner kick with 15 minutes left in the game from junior Alyssa Burney found its way into the net after the East Grand Rapids goalkeeper mishandled the ball to tie the game at 2-2.

Junior Gabby Miller and Streberger both notched shootout goals to tie it at 2-2 before Stephanoff gave North the 3-2 advantage.

For Dallaire, who graduated from North in 2009, it was a full-circle moment as she returned to the MSU field where she played for four seasons, and was finally able to bring one home for her high school in the process.

“Honestly, I’m speechless,” Dallaire said. “I’m at a loss of words because I played four years on this field (MSU), and I played four years for Grosse Pointe North. I couldn’t get it done as a senior in the championship game, and I’m just so proud of these girls to be able to bring a championship home to Grosse Pointe North.”