Lenawee County girls soccer teams ready for exciting 2022 season

A nice rivalry formed in Lenawee County among two Division 4 girls soccer programs last season.

Clinton featured the most prolific goal scorer in Lenawee County history, the back-to-back county player of the year senior Madalyn Freitas.

While the Redwolves were strong last season and had the player of the year, Lenawee Christian was the one winning a district title as it beat Clinton 3-1 in the opener.

The Cougars have a standout of their own with senior Janae Good and the bulk of the district title team returns for 2022.

Clinton was bumped up to Division 3 this season, so the two teams will not meet this season

Here is a look at how Lenawee County is shaping up for the 2022 girls soccer season:

Adrian

Head coach: Rangariro Mutatu, fourth season

The Maples went winless in 2021, but that has already changed this season as Adrian is 1-1 already with a pair of 1-0 games.

Adrian opened the season with a 1-0 loss to Coldwater before topping Dundee 1-0 later in the week.

The Maples were able to gain a lot of experience during a tough 2021 season and now look to show improvements on the pitch from the returns while adding some athletic pieces to the mix.

Senior Lauren Ferguson and Brooke Patterson, junior Ashley Klann and goalie Lilly Hassan all return to give Adrian much needed experience.

Newcomers Helayna Nieto, Sophy Skeels, Sofia Marcolongo, Raquel Gonzalez and Ella Marlatt will look to make an instant impact on a team looking to make strides in 2022.

Blissfield

Head coach: Emily Loar, third season

Blissfield is coming off a 10-win season and has several key pieces to build around.

First, the Royals need to get healthy.

“We are looking to stay healthy and uninjured,” said Royals' head coach Emily Loar. “There are a few players coming into the season with injuries from previous events, so we are looking to heal those injuries and be smart moving forward.”

One of those is Avery Collins, the honorable mention all-state basketball player. Collins, a sophomore, broke her nose in the second game of basketball season and had surgery as soon as the season ended. She’s out for a few weeks of soccer. She was Blissfield’s leading scorer last year with 13 goals and eight assists.

Blissfield has five seniors, four juniors, seven sophomores and one freshman on its roster.

The freshman is Arianna Drake, who plays midfield and Loar is excited about.

“The new players to the game have grown so much since the beginning of the season,” Loar said.

Senior Lydia Makula missed last season with a knee injury but has returned. June Miller and Gillian Gray are back on defense while Ashley Griffith, Amelia Seiser, Fatima Hernandez and Kaydence VanEtten are midfielders and forwards. Junior Ayla Earley is the goalkeeper.

“We have great camaraderie with this team,” Loar said. “I am excited to see how we will present that during games.”

Clinton

Head coach: Marla Erickson, fourth season

The focal points for the Redwolves is senior Madalyn Freitas.

With a five-goal performance under her belt already for her senior year, she now has 130 career goals. She entered the season as Lenawee's all-time goal scorer.

But, the team is deeper than Freitas herself.

Senior Emma Snelling (forward) is back after earning First Team All-County honors while seniors Audra Mitchell (defense) and Rachel Dufortd (goalie) return after being named All-County Second-Teamers. Junior Cassie McNatt (forward) is another Second Team All-County selection who returns to the Redwolves.

"It's a big team with a lot of talent here," Erickson said. "Every day is a new game ... I'm going to make sure they keep getting better.

Clinton has some new girls looking to make an impact right away as well and they did in the season-opening 10-0 win against Bronson.

Forward/Mid Aubrey Lauer scored two goals while forward Zoey Sierer handled the ball well.

"Ashlyn Lehman (defense) is another freshman," Erickson said. "Aubrey looked really good in her first time out there."

Lenawee Christian

Head coach: Nathan Sharpe, sixth season

The Cougars are coming off their first district title in program history and are poised to make a repeat run this season with a load of returning talent.

Front and center is Janae Good who, if not for Freitas scoring at record-breaking paces, would be the reigning county player of the year.

"She is doing well and is one our girls who is pretty dedicated to soccer," Sharpe said. "We had seven girls who were on the basketball team, we didn't get to see them while they were on their run for basketball. Good has organized things along with Olivia Durbin as captains to get people in conditioning and working out. It's been a good start for (Good)."

LCS has three other First Team All-County members back in the mix with junior Olivia Durbin (forward), junior back Lauren Swiggum (back) and junior Avery Sluss (goalie). Seniors Kylie Summer (mid) and Emma Hammond (back) are returning Second-Teamers while sophomore Selah Clymer earned an honorable mention nod.

"That's going to be a big deal," Sharpe said. "It's tough to go through a season where nobody gets hurt, so getting that depth and using that depth early so we get experience. We want that experience early in the season so we can lean on it late."

Sharpe is excited about what he sees coming in as newbies or girls who look to have roles increased.

"Callie Anderson is (a freshman) who has risen in the first few weeks of practice," Sharpe said. "She's a committed soccer player and doesn't look like a freshman. We have some girls back who played a reserved role who we will lean on more. Mya VanEtten is one and Natalie Moore is someone we'll lean on a lot.

"We have a good mix of core players we leaned on last year as well as some brand new girls and others who will step into the spotlight."

With all of those solid returners, LCS has its sights set on winning the Independent Soccer League title.

"We've not done that yet," Sharpe said. "Even though we beat Manchester last year in the district, we lost to them 1-0 in the regular season. We play them right when we get back from break. Our only lost last year in the conference was to Manchester, so that's a big game early."

Onsted

Head coach: Don Cattell, third season

The Wildcats made a leap last season after having one win in Cattell's first season, they had six in 2021 and finished the season 6-6.

Onsted is already off to a 1-0 start with a 4-2 win against Bronson where senior and returning All-County Second Team forward Bailey Brandly scored all four goals.

The Wildcats will need some newcomers to step up after graduating First Team All-County back Allycia Lanz as well as Katelyn Eggenton and Kylie Bosak.

Senior Maddalynn Zellen made seven saves in the win against the Vikings and will look to make a name for herself in net this season.

Tecumseh

Head coach: Matthew Twiss, second season

If you recall, Freitas was at Tecumseh for her freshman season where she broke the county record for goals in a single season and won her first player of the year honor.

After she transferred to Clinton, Tecumseh was left to figure out how to play without her in 2021. The team started slow, but won three-straight to end the regular season.

This year, Tecumseh opened the 2022 season with a 3-1 win against Temperance Bedford and will look to have a bit of a comeback season.

"We have a really good team environment," Twiss said. "There is no division between them and, as far as where we're at on the field, against Bedford I was pretty happy."

Tecumseh is a young, but talented team, with only three seniors on the roster and only two of those with any experience.

"One of them is Brynn Richardson who is our senior captain this year," Twiss said. "Another off the bench is Hannah Cameron who has been in the program all four years."

The junior class is where the bulk of the production comes from.

Leading the group there is Kennedy Konz (back) who was a First Team All-County pick and Chesney Wilke (forward) who earned second team honors.

"Wilke and Konz are both junior captains and both are going to play huge parts for us this year," Twiss said. "Joscelyn Yape joins Konz in the back and her and Kennedy are lock down back there.

"After watching a game, I'm excited for Bailee Romanowski. She'll be in that center-midfield for us and come in with renewed confidence and freshman Kylie Trevino. We knew (Trevino) was fast, but watching her on the turf was mind blowing."

The group took notice this year how the girls soccer board in the gym is the only empty one of the school's programs.

The goal this year is to put a number up, whether that's an SEC White Division title or a district title.

"We want to put a date on that board," Twiss said.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County teams all have heightened expectations for 2022 season