EAST LANSING – Friday, June 12, will be a date forever ingrained in the memory of Sydney DeKuiper.
The Rockford High School senior had a heart-wrenching dilemma that she had to work through: Stand up as the maid of honor in her sister Sammie’s wedding or compete with her team in the program’s first MHSAA girls soccer Division 1 state title game.
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With her family’s support – and, most importantly, Sammie’s – she chose the latter.
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“Luckily my family is the best and they support me so much and we’ve always been a sports family,” DeKuiper said. “It wasn’t exactly a hard decision; it just hurt my heart.”
The risk was worth the reward. DeKuiper as she and Rockford defeated Troy, 2-0, to capture the program’s first state title.
DeKuiper, who assisted on the final goal (scored by junior forward Amelia Chapin), said afterward there was nowhere else she’d rather be.
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“It’s a true sisterhood, and I would die on this field for them if I could,” she said. “It’s my last time on the field with them and so I left everything out on the field for them.”
The game started with a fast pace as both teams were eager to get on the scoreboard. Minutes in, the tempo slowed down, but physicality took its place as both teams received penalties.
Neither team scored in the first half, but Troy had more opportunities to do so. The Colts had seven scoring chances – three of which came from junior Kaylee Worrell – compared to the Rams’ two.
Rockford coach Stu Quackenbush said the team was resilient and welcomed the physicalicality.
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“I think what happened was [Troy] played physical as well. They were a fantastic team just being strong on the ball, 50-50s. Then I think it knocked us back a little at first,” he said. “It was something that we haven’t seen, a team take it to us like that in the first half in a while.”
Rockford scored first, courtesy of senior forward Isla Brown with 17:29 left. The Rams held a 1-0 lead for much of the rest the half until Chapin scored an insurance goal with 2:07 left.
Quackenbush, who had a different game plan for DeKuiper to get involved, credited her for following her instincts in that moment.
“I’m yelling for Sydney to take it in the corner in order to bleed more clock. [She] ignores me because she’s intelligent and passes a brilliant ball over and finishes to get us that second goal, which was a buffer that we really needed,” he said.
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Rockford principal Ricky Clark said the team embodies what the school and community is all about, citing the team’s long history of playing together, dating back to grade school.
“[Troy] at any point, had us against the ropes and they could have delivered us a blow and the way [our girls] worked together in the same way they worked together in our halls and on the team all the way down from when they were playing rec soccer.”
DeKuiper may have missed her sister’s wedding, but she wasn’t alone for her special moment that she’ll remember forever.
“All the fans are my supporters. I have the best community, and they have supported me so much,” DeKuiper said.
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Eric Guzmán covers youth sports culture at the Free Press as a corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support this work.
Contact Eric Guzmán: eguzman@freepress.com; 313-222-1850.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA girls soccer: Rockford nabs first title with shutout of Troy
