Wednesday’s roundup: Detroit C.C. wins A-B boys soccer
Detroit Catholic Central won its second Catholic League A-B boys soccer title in the last three years with a 4-2 win over Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood on Wednesday at Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights.
Ryan Pierson scored twice for C.C. (13-2-3, 6-0-1 Catholic League). Noah Walter and Matt Sherman (one assist) each added goals in the second half, while Justin Savona added an assist.
Pierson's first goal came on a penalty kick. Later, he took a pass from Sherman and buried it to put Catholic Central ahead 2-0 in the first half.
“I thought it was huge,” Pierson said of his second goal “Without my teammates, I don’t think it was going to happen. Without the pass from Matt Sherman, I don’t think it was going to happen.”
Kevin Blossfeld made three saves before being replaced by Trevor Ostrowski at halftime. Ostrowski made four saves.
Catholic Central coach Gene Pulice said his message at the half was simple.
“I just wanted to maintain our possession and just play our game,” Pulice said. “We had a game plan that we wanted to stick to. Cranbrook is a well-managed team. They’re very organized.”
Things continued to go well for C.C., after Walter’s goal early in the second half made it 3-0.
But Cranbrook responded, scoring twice to make it 3-2.
Then, Sherman’s goal — with an assist by Pierson — sealed the win.
“The leadership on the field had changed a little bit,” Pulice said, describing the sequence leading up to Cranbrook’s two goals. “I think we did get a little bit ahead of ourselves.”
In his second year on varsity, Pierson said C.C. has a lot of momentum going into Monday’s district playoff game at home against Novi.
“Last year was a little bit of a letdown, losing the Catholic League,” he said. (Detroit C.C. lost to Birmingham Brother Rice in last year’s final.)
“I think we have huge momentum. We’re definitely set for districts coming up on Monday. I think we just have to stay focused and stay humble after this big win.”
Pulice has guided C.C. to two Catholic League championships and four sectional titles in his five years as coach. C.C. also won district championships in 2013 and 2015.
He said the team is prepared for Novi, which wrapped up its regular season Wednesday night with a 3-1 win over Hartland.
“We’re ready,” Pulice said. “Our guys are disciplined. We can give up a goal and it doesn’t eat us up mentally. Our leadership is really good at organizing our guys. It’s not to say that we don’t make some errors that people capitalize on, but we get organized after we have some weak moments.”
More Catholic League finals
C-D: Allen Park Cabrini 3, Royal Oak Shrine 0
More soccer
Warren Woods Tower 4, Center Line 1: Jeremy Rindal had two goals and Christian Sipley and Nate Parsons scored one each for Tower (9-6-3, 6-4-2 MAC Gold). Nick Burke and Jared Johns each recorded an assist. Justin King made nine saves. Center Line is 8-7-3, 4-6-2.
More soccer scores
Clawson 2, Port Huron Northern 0
Melvindale 2, Woodhaven 1
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central 7, Flat Rock 0
Sterling Heights Stevenson 3, Fraser 0
Girls field hockey scores
Hartland 2, Dearborn 0
Al Willman is a freelance writer