Story and photos by Devlin Francis ’15 | Social Media Director

The girls varsity soccer team beat cross-town rival Grosse Pointe North 3-1 in the semifinal round of the district tournament on Thursday, May 29, and mercied Detroit Western 8-0 in the championship on Saturday, May 31 to win the district tournament.

“We played one of our better games of the year,” said head coach Gene Harkins after the game against North.

South got up to an early 1-0 lead when Dani Manning ‘14 scored off a penalty kick with 26:05 left in the first half. North scored to tie it 1-1 with 20:06 left in the first half, and then Manning scored again with 18:01 left in the half to give South a 2-0 lead going into the second half.

“Dani Manning is just a great player, and they tried to put a lot of effort into stopping her, but that’s hard to do,” said Harkins.

Less than a minute into the second half, Manning scored her third goal of the game, completing the hat-trick. South lead 3-1 for the remaining 39:18 of the game.

“I definitely felt like I had momentum throughout the game so I kept taking shots on net,” said Manning. “Every goal builds excitement, regardless of who scores, so it was just an exciting game to play.”

Despite the personal accomplishment of the hat-trick, Manning was more happy with the final result of the game, she said.

“I’m just happy we were able to beat our rivals North and advanced,” said Manning. “That’s what’s most important.”

Manning was the only player to score for South, however the work of the rest of the team doesn’t go unnoticed, Harkins said.

“Even though no one else scored, Kathy Collins, Franny Weber (both ‘14), and the rest of the girls stepped up and picked up the slack,” said Harkins. “They played good defense, had good passing, and I’m happy with how everyone played as a team.”

In the championship game South mercied Detroit Western 8-0 in just over a half of play.

“Our main goal was to go all the way (in the district tournament),” said Harkins. “It feels really good to know we accomplished that.”

Six different players scored for South with Aubrey Leggat ‘16, Deedee Burns, Carly Ventimiglia, and Ellie Zak, all ‘14, scoring one goal each. Tori McShane ‘15 and Kathy Collins ‘14 scored two goals each.

“All the girls played great,” said Harkins after the championship. “We really controlled the game from start to finish.”

South lead 7-0 at halftime, and immediately went back to work once the second half started. With 38:18 left in the game Ventimiglia scored what would be the game winning goal to give South an 8-0 lead and end the game due to a mercy.

“We wanted to win, and knew we would win,” said Harkins. “Our play really reflected that and overall the whole team just played well and dominated.”

This is the fourth championship for the graduating seniors who have won the district tournament every year they’ve been at South.

“We’ve won districts every year that I’ve been at South, and it feels great to continue that accomplishment,” said Captain Cydney Webb ‘15.

South will play Dakota in the regional round on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Sterling Heights Stevenson.

“Now we just to continue to work hard and play well as a team,”said Webb. “It’s nice to win districts again, but our main focus now is regionals because we really want a regional trophy.”