What's the outlook for Livingston County girls soccer teams in 2024?
Expectations are understandably high for the girls soccer teams at Brighton, Hartland and Pinckney entering the 2024 season.
Brighton and Pinckney return the bulk of their starters from teams that won district championships, while Hartland still has players who won a state championship in 2021 and reached the regional title game in 2022.
Perhaps even Livingston Christian, a third-year program, can bring home some district championship hardware, led by a player who has scored 103 goals in her first two seasons.
Brighton was the only Livingston County team to play a game before spring break, losing 2-0 to Canton in the cozy confines of the Bulldogs’ indoor practice facility. The season will begin for everyone else next week.
Here’s a look at the county’s 2024 girls soccer teams:
Brighton
► Last season: 10-8-3; 4-7-3 KLAA West (6th place); district champion
►Top returners: Maya Bjedov, F, Soph.; Brynn Bobby, F, Soph.; Naomi Bongero, D, Jr.; Cameron Eberly, D, Sr.; Irene Kiilunen, D, Sr.; Emily Kramer, MF, Sr.; Olivia Sebestyen, MF, Jr.; Ainsley Seiter, MF, Sr.; Elaina Vandemergel, D, Jr.; Ella Vandemergel, F, Jr.; Anna VanKannel, F, Sr.
►Outlook: Brighton hopes to build on its first district championship since 2017 with 12 returning players, most of whom played a role during the postseason run. The Bulldogs return two players who received all-state honorable mention in Sebestyen and Ella Vandemergel. Bongero, Kiilunen and VanKannel were second-team all-county picks. Kramer, who received all-state honorable mention two years ago, is back for a full season after a knee injury kept her out until late last season. The Bulldogs suffered a blow when junior Kate Carrico, who scored a team-high 15 goals last year, switched to club soccer. The Bulldogs will start a freshman in net in Anna Nall-Brown.
►Coach Ryan Carriere: “Every year we have the same expectations to try to peak at the end of the year. Building off the momentum of knowing how to win important games, we’re going to be developing that mindset throughout the year that we’re going to peak at the right time and the players are going to have super high expectations for how we’re going to compete.”
Charyl Stockwell
► Last season: 4-11-1; 2-6-0 MIAC (7th place)
►Top returners: Abby Landers, D, Sr.; Clara McCauley, MF, Jr.; Teagan O’Connor, F-MF, Soph.; Sophia Spirko, MF, Sr.; Grace Tiderington, MF, Soph.
►Outlook: The Sentinels return three of their top five goal scorers, but none of them are Cassie Hall. Hall, who is playing hockey at Wisconsin, scored 27 goals as a senior and 55 as a junior. O’Connor was second on the team with five goals to go with three assists. Tiderington had three goals and Spirko two. Stockwell has five freshmen on its 17-player roster.
►Coach Doug Brown: “Replacing (Hall’s output) is going to be a team effort. I’m not yet sure where all those goals are going to come from. We’ve got a bunch of new people who are going to bring value to the team. Some of our sophomores and juniors will need to pick up the slack.”
Fowlerville
► Last season: 8-8-0; 1-5-0 CAAC Red (5th place)
►Top returners: Autumn Carr, F-MF, Jr.; Morgan Challis, D, Sr.; Cailyn Cockerill, F-MF, Jr.; Kyla Durbin, GK, Sr.; Mia Jaeger, D, Sr.
►Outlook: Fowlerville returns two of the top eight goal scorers in Livingston County last season in Carr (14 goals, three assists) and Cockerill (11 goals, six assists). Jaeger contributed six goals and four assists. The Gladiators won seven games by at least three goals last season, but will look to close the gap against the tougher teams on their schedule like league rivals Mason, Williamston and Haslett. Heather Hartke, an assistant coach last season, is the only new head coach in Livingston County.
►Coach Heather Hartke: “I hope to have a winning record. I think they can do it as long as they put their minds to it. I hope to make a stance in the CAAC. We’re always finishing fifth or last; we want to finish higher than that.”
Hartland
► Last season: 10-5-3; 8-3-3 KLAA West (3rd place)
►Top returners: Josie Cheyne, F, Sr.; Alyse Daavettila, F, Sr.; Izzy DePestel, D, Jr.; Addie Frantti, F, Jr.; Emma Kastamo, MF, Sr.; Ellie Laier, D, Sr.; Sophia Pietila, D, Jr.; Paige Sundman, F, Soph.; Katie Swirczek, MF, Sr.
►Outlook: Daavettila and Kastamo are the two holdovers from Hartland’s 2021 state Division 1 championship team. Daavettila is a third-team all-stater who led Hartland with nine goals and six assists last season. Hartland brings back three first-team all-county players and four second-team selections. The only starters the Eagles lost from last season are graduated goalie Leila Al-Qallaf and senior Sam Baker, who is playing club soccer. After two straight extended playoff runs, Hartland was knocked out in the district semifinals by rival Brighton last season.
►Coach Andrew Kartsounes: “We’ve got a lot of experience back. I think all of them feel we went out too early last year. We really want to have a longer run this year. We know we’re always going to have those same teams in our district in Brighton and Okemos. They’re going to be tough teams to face to get out of the district. We’ve got a long way to go.”
Howell
► Last season: 2-14-3; 0-12-2 KLAA West (8th place)
►Top returners: Miley Chapman, GK, Jr.; Riley Livermore, MF, Soph.; Selah Luethy, D, Sr.
►Outlook: Howell has 34 players on its varsity and junior varsity teams after not having a J.V. team two years ago and playing nine-player games at that level last year. Livermore plays at a high level in travel and is expected to be Howell’s biggest impact player the next three years. Second-team all-county pick Maddie Pietila, who would’ve been a four-year starter, isn’t playing. The Howell has gone 0-51-5 in KLAA West play since league realignment in 2018-19. The Highlanders’ last victory against a division opponent was 6-1 at Pinckney on May 16, 2017.
►Coach Ashley Savage: “The team we’re putting forward is a younger team, but I do think they’re gonna be a group to watch in the next few years because they’re hungry and they’re dedicated and they’re excited. I’ll take girls like that any day who are gritty and hungry.”
Livingston Christian
► Last season: 6-2-3
►Top returners: Allie Hunt, D, Jr.; Allie Johnson, MF, Soph.; Audrey Johnson, F, Jr.; Taylor Wiegand, F, Soph.
►Outlook: More than half the girls at Livingston Christian are on the soccer team, with 22 players on the roster in the program’s third year. The biggest returning player is Audrey Johnson, who scored 58 goals and 12 assists as a freshman and 45 goals and five assists as a sophomore to earn all-state honorable mention in Division 4. The Falcons return everyone from a successful season that ended with a 2-1 loss to Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest in districts.
►Coach Kyle Johnson: “Having everybody back, they all gained a lot of experience playing last year. We only had 15 girls last year, so they all played a lot. They finally, after a couple of years, have a really good understanding of shape formation and what we’re trying to do to possess the ball and then get out in transition.”
Pinckney
► Last season: 15-2-1; 9-0-1 SEC White (1st place); district champion
►Top returners: Alexis Altizer, MF-D, Sr.; Peyton Delongchamp, GK, Sr.; Julia Garcia, D, Soph.; Valerie Graves, MF-D, Sr.; Zaryah Griffin, MF, Sr.; Alex Hanselman, D, Sr.; Mackenna Prince, MF-D, Jr.; Ella Swiderski, F, Sr.
►Outlook: Pinckney returns all but four players from its first district championship team, a squad which reached the regional final. Delongchamp, the reigning county Player of the Year, is a four-year starter in net. Griffin had 17 goals and nine assists last year. The Pirates graduated their next three highest goal scorers. Graves will move to midfield from outside back to help make up for some of the lost scoring. Despite four straight league championships and a 72-17-5 record over the past five seasons, the Pirates have only 20 players in the program and no junior varsity team.
►Coach Sean Grace: “We’re trying to do exactly what we did last year. It’s going to be a little bit tighter of a race as far as the SEC championship goes. Chelsea and Adrian are nipping at our heels. Both are going to be really tough. Obviously, once you get in the playoffs, anything can happen. We’re looking to make the same kind of run as we did last year.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Previewing 2024 Livingston County girls soccer teams
