“After the second goal, I felt like I could breathe again,” Maggie Lamb, Pioneer Field Hockey (PFH) forward, said.
The Pioneer vs. Dexter State Championship game took place Saturday, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. at Northville High School’s field. Coming from a hard-fought semi-final three days prior, the PFH team knew they had to bring their best if they wanted a chance at winning the whole thing.
PFH had played Dexter twice in the regular 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, while PFH, the number one seed, won 1-0 in overtime.
Pioneer forward Zoe Shuchman helped start the game off right. On an offensive corner late in the first quarter, the Dexter goalie’s save launched the ball into the air. Lucy Piekert, Pioneer’s corner inserter, kept the ball in play, hitting it to Shuchman, who tipped the ball into the back of the goal.
“It’s always tough when the score is 0-0 until the last quarter,” Shuchman 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,” PFH defender Avery Mayer 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. The ball slipped 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 Michigan High School Field Hockey League (MHSFHL) due to a lack of teams. The main change is that every high school in Michigan now plays in the same division and championship bracket, extending the post season. Along with the MHSAA title, PFH also broke the record for most State Championship wins, with four victories in a row.
“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.”
