TRAVERSE CITY — Three in a row isn’t as big a couple more.
Traverse City St. Francis won its third consecutive Division 3 girls soccer district championship with a 6-0 shutout of Kingsford at the Keystone Soccer Complex.
“Two down, four to go,” Gladiators head coach Scott Conway said as the team huddled after their victory that clinched a third consecutive district championship. “We’re not done yet.”
Two more potential regional games, semifinals and finals. That’s the four.
After setting the standard with the program’s first three district crowns, it’s on to looking for bigger and better things. First up is bringing home TCSF’s first girls soccer regional championship.
“It means everything for us to be on this path,” St. Francis senior Sidney Peters said. “Being one step closer to even bigger games is huge.”
The No. 10-ranked Glads (16-4-2) face Tri County (14-5-2) in Tuesday’s 5 p.m. regional semifinal at Clare. The Vikings earned a spot in regionals with a 9-4 win over Clare and a 6-0 victory Thursday against Kingsley.
Fremont (13-7-2) takes on the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 12 Freeland (13-5-3) and No. 13 Standish-Sterling (16-2-0) in the other regional semi at 7 p.m. at Clare.
“Our attack and communication this year has been so much better,” Peters said. “We’ve grown closer as a team this year. They’re very open to feedback and getting better.”
St. Francis led 5-0 by halftime, spending much of the first 40 minutes in Kingsford’s end.
Peters and Collins each scored two and Ruby Rhein one. Collins assisted on three, and Peters and Quinn Lumbrezer one each.
The Flivvers (10-5) hadn’t allowed a goal in six of their last seven games, despite having just one senior on their roster. All 10 Kingsford wins this season came via shutout.
The second half was more even in play with the Glads already firmly in control. St. Francis repelled a few Flivvers scoring chances, and Collins scored with six seconds left, juking the goaltender in a one-on-one rush and then tapping in an easy one.
Collins ended up with a hand in every one of TCSF’s goals, scoring three goals and assisting the other three. Peters had two goals and two assists, bringing her season totals to 32 goals and 15 assists.
“This is the best game I’ve played in awhile,” said Collins, the reigning Record-Eagle girls soccer Player of the Year. “We clayed really cohesively and we’re pushing each other. I wouldn’t have all these assists if there weren’t girls out there tracking back and getting on balls.”
Collins has produced 18 goals and 23 assists this season.
The Gladiators followed up their district two years ago with a 2-0 regional loss to eventual state semifinalist Freeland, then took another step last year with the program’s first regional game win over Montague before a 3-0 setback against eventual state champ Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
“It would be huge to get there,” senior defender and co-captain Grace Rowe said. “We’ve built up from (regional) semifinals to finals and now hopefully winning regionals, maybe even states.”
Pasleigh Upshaw made four saves for St. Francis, picking up her 12th shutout of the season.