Okemos senior goalie Caroline Serkaian signed to play Division I soccer at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee on Signing Day.
Okemos senior goalie Caroline Serkaian signed to play at Division I University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Wednesday.
By the time the season rolls around this fall, Northern Michigan women’s soccer coach Matt Granstrand will have seven players from mid-Michigan on his roster.
And without looking, he wouldn’t be able to tell you that.
“I don’t go to watch high school games in lower Michigan. Most of the kids that we see we watch on the club teams that they are playing (on),” Granstrand said. “It’s funny, a lot of my kids from Michigan I watched in Muscatine, Iowa. That’s a really big showcase I go to, and a lot of the club teams from the area play in it.”
There are players from DeWitt, Haslett, Mason and Williamston on Northern MIchigan’s current 29-person roster
Several kids in mid-Michigan said they receive most of their college interest through club soccer. The traveling and the tough competition has allowed these young players to be seen by coaches from across the nation.
“A lot of the girls (on my team) played together, and I played against them,” said Haslett graduate Alaina Perry, who is a freshman on Granstrand’s team and played for Chill SBC during the club season and competed against many of her teammates, which played for TNT. “Everyone competed against each other while we were in high school, it was always a hard game.”
And while club soccer has allowed Granstrand, who would have to travel about eight hours to catch an 80-minute game in mid-Michigan, to develop relationships with players in the Lansing area, Grand Valley State coach Jeff Hosler, an East Lansing High School grad, is able to be a little more hands-on when it comes to high school soccer.
Hosler, who has led the Lakers to two consecutive Division II championships, is able to catch games during the high school season. And with programs like Okemos, DeWitt, Mason and Lansing Christian consistently being mentioned among the state’s best, he believes that’s also helped lead the recent surge in players going on to play at the next level.
Mid-Michigan college commitments
“While there are some elite players in the area, I think you’re seeing a strength in high school soccer largely because of the club systems that they’re in,” said Hosler, who has Holt grad Tara Lierman on his roster and received a signed commitment Wednesday from Haslett senior Charley Campbell. “You look at those (high school) rosters and easily half of those rosters participate in club soccer. Ten years ago, you might have had three or four kids that play club soccer. You have a lot more kids involved playing the game.
“In terms of girls soccer and recruiting in high school, teams really do need to make a deep playoff run to gain exposure. It’s difficult to get out for every team. But at the same time, for us, we keep track of some of those key matchups that are going on throughout the year.”
Out of the 26 Greater Lansing-area players — boys and girls — who signed National Letters of Intent Wednesday, only three committed to Division I programs: Zoe Morse (East Lansing), Caroline Serkaian (Okemos) and Lindsey Carlson (Charlotte).
Morse, a midfielder who never played for the Trojans, signed with the University of Virginia. She played club soccer with the Michigan Hawks. Carlson, who played for both the Orioles and Chill, signed with Eastern Illinois. Serkaian, a goalie, who will have played for the Chiefs all four years after this spring, committed to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. However, Serkaian said most of her interest came from the club level, with both Chill and a team in Grand Rapids.
Last year, Okemos’ soccer programs sent four kids to Division I schools, which is the most student-athletes the school has produced from one class, in one sport, in its history. And since 2010, the Chiefs’ girls soccer team has produced more than a handful of Division I players, which includes, recent graduates Ashton Miller (Duke), Erin Doster (Massachusetts), Kristelle Yewah, Kelsey Mullen and Sarah Kovan (Michigan State), Kourtney Scott (Northwestern) and Vanessa Nigg (DePaul).
“It’s not so much pressure, but you look up to these girls that are doing great things around the country,” Serkaian said. “It’s a goal to get to where they are.
“Whatever team we play our goal is to win, but during the club season we’re playing with girls on other (high school) teams and we’re pushing ourselves to get better, and in the spring season we compete against each other. I think it’s (mid-Michigan) just a real positive environment for all of the girls to grow as soccer players and teammates together.”
Contact James L. Edwards III at jledwards@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII.