Lansing Catholic’s Remy Collard controls the ball in front of Williamston’s Patrick Schuster Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. Collard scored the Cougars’ lone goal in the matchup, and it was voted the LSJ high school video of the week.
Last week’s goal against Williamston was a rarity for Lansing Catholic boys soccer senior Remy Collard.
The right-footed Collard connected on a 20-plus-yard shot with his non-dominant foot in his team’s district semifinals victory over the Division 3 No. 5-ranked Hornets. The senior’s score was the game-tying goal, and the No. 13-ranked Cougars went on to win the match, 2-1 (4-2 on penalty kicks), in a penalty-kick shootout.
The goal was voted the LSJ high school video of the week.
“I usually don’t make it with my left foot,” said Collard, who also converted in the penalty-kick shootout. “It was definitely the best shot I’ve taken with my left foot.
“Right when it went in, all of my adrenaline started running through me. I ran to the bench to high five with everyone because I was pretty excited that we scored.”
View video “Williamstom (District Semi-Finals)”
Things have continued to get better for Collard and Lansing Catholic since pulling out the win over the conference rival. The Cougars went on to capture their first district championship since 2010 by defeating Leslie, 6-0, and they opened the regional tournament with a 2-0 win over No. 9-ranked Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard.
Lansing Catholic will face No. 6-ranked Grosse Ile at 6 p.m. today for the regional championship. Collard said the Cougars are confident that they can continue their push into the state tournament.
“We just need to keep doing what we’re doing,” he added. We play to the level of our opponent, and the better they are, the better we are. If we stick to our gameplan and the way we’ve been playing lately, I don’t see any reason why we should lose.”
Lansing Catholic advances to D3 regional championship game
LSJ athlete of the week: Mason’s Cecilia Stalzer
Contact James L. Edwards III at jledwards@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII.