“After the second goal, I felt like I could breathe again,” Maggie Lamb, CHS senior, said.
Coming from a hard-fought semi-final game against Chelsea three days before the finals, the Pioneer Field Hockey (PFH) team knew they had to bring their best if they wanted a chance at winning the whole thing.
The Pioneer vs. Dexter State Championship game took place Saturday, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. at Northville High School’s field. The teams had played each other twice before in the season: the first game ended in a 1-1 tie and the second game in a 1-0 win for the Pioneers. Furthermore, Dexter had defeated the number two seed, Saline, 4-0 in the semi-finals. The Pioneer team knew they would have to give their all if they wanted to come out on top.
Zoe Schuchman, a sophomore at CHS and PFH player, helped out her team by starting the game off right. She scored the first goal of the game before the end of the first quarter. The goal was achieved off an offensive corner, where the ball was tipped into the air, saved by Dexter’s goalie and hit back into play by Pioneer’s defensive center midfield, Lucy Piekert. Then Schuchman finished by tipping it into the back of the goal.
“It’s always tough when the score is 0-0 until the last quarter,” Schuchman said. “So I was so relieved that I could help the team get a head up in the competition.”
Although they were in the lead, the fight continued.
“Our coach always says the two minutes after a goal are the most dangerous, so our guards had to stay up,” Avery Mayer, CHS sophomore said. “Throughout our season, I’ve constantly shared the phrase ‘a 1-nil lead is the hardest lead to have’ and it was especially key during this game.”
The Pioneers maintained their 1-0 edge on Dexter until the last five minutes in the third quarter, when Lamb intercepted a back pass from Dexter’s defense and headed straight to the goal for a clean shot, slipping through the gap between the goalkeeper’s pads and the post, landing dead center of the back board. It was then a 2-0 game with a little more than a quarter left to go.
The crowd and bench erupted in cheers. Pioneer’s head coach, Jane Nixon, ran down the sideline, giving every player a high five.
“We could all feel the tension release,” Mayer said. “All we had to do was play defense.”
As the last quarter inched by, the Pioneers kept the lead. When the clock hit 10 seconds, the players on the sideline prepared for the whistle to blow so they could sprint onto the field to celebrate the triumph with their teammates.
The 2-0 victory secured PFH’s Team 46 a record-breaking season, as they are the first Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA)-recognized State Championship title holders. Before this year, Field hockey was considered a Varsity sport under MHSFHL Michigan High School Field Hockey League due to a lack of teams. The main change is that now every high school in Michigan plays in the same division and championship bracket, extending the post season. Along with that, PFH also broke the record for most State Championships won in a row as the first program to win four consecutive State Championships.
“This was the best ending to my last season with Pioneer Field Hockey,” Lamb said. “There is so much love and heart within our team and I think it really shows.”
