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Lady Eagle kickers receive post season honors

  Frankenmuth finished its 2017 spring soccer season with a loss to #1 state ranked Flint Powers team in District play.  The #10 state ranked Eagles had a 17-3-1 overall record and a 11-1-0 Tri-Valley East record.  Frankenmuth earned a co-Championship in the TVC East Conference.  This is the 15th conference title in their 22-year history.  There were three Academic All-State recipients, along with one athletic All-State recipient.  The team also earned Academic All-State Team honors for the 20th straight year.  The team had to work through their share of obstacles this year; that included injuries to key players.  
  “The seniors did an excellent job of leading the team in our ongoing pursuit of excellence,” Head Coach Paul Stenglein stated.
  Following are Stenglein’s thoughts and comments on the 2017 varsity soccer team…
  Courtney Keyes: Courtney was one of our freshman, and a center mid-fielder that brought in a tremendous amount of high level travel experience with her to the team this spring.  Her typical position is defensive center back, and she did an excellent job of transitioning into a very tough center-mid position.  She led the team this year with 17 goals, and was tied for second in assists with eight.  Her strength on the ball and her composure in maintaining possession on our attacks this year was critical.  She earned All-Conference, All-District, All-Region, and Honorable Mention All-State.
  Rebecca Kiser: Rebecca was a freshman and is a strong player that spent most of her time as a forward.  She is capable of creating chaos for opposing defensive players. Her strong play in front of the net yielded some critical goals this past season.  She finished the season with eight goals and four assists.
  Maura Lee: Maura was a freshman mid-fielder with a tremendous amount of tactical knowledge of the game.  She is a strong player that is able to maintain ball possession against strong opponents.  Maura had three goals on the year, and will be critical to our attack in the coming years.
  Sydney Merrihew: Sydney was a freshman mid-fielder that grew a tremendous amount throughout the season.  Her aggressive style of play was critical in many of our more challenging games at the end of the season.  She had five goals and five assists on the season, and was a player that worked very hard each training session and each game.
  Danielle Rummel: Danielle was a freshman mid-fielder that is certainly capable of playing anywhere on the field.  She is one of our stronger players, and is almost impossible to knock off the ball.  She has an excellent long service, and will be called to be a long server in years to come.  Danielle had one goal and one assist on the season.
  Baylee Stainforth: Baylee is our final freshman, and spent most of the season as an attacking forward.  She has outstanding distribution skills, and was instrumental in assisting on critical goals on some of our tougher games.  She had three goals, and tied for second on the team with eight assists.  She has great speed, and her continued growth as a player can be huge for the team in the future.
  Zoe Neirink:    Zoe was a sophomore keeper this spring; and did an excellent job in helping lead the defensive group on the field.  She continues to grow as a keeper, and each game she strives to learn from the game that was finished.  She recorded 13 shutouts, and 99 saves on the season.  With each game, she seems to be more confident as a keeper.  Zoe earned All-Conference and All-District honors this spring.
  Olivia Perrou: Olivia was a sophomore outside back this spring, and was responsible for shutting down outside flank attacks.  She is quick and tough, and had a number of critical stops this season when keeping opposing attackers from scoring.  She is a hard-working player that had a very positive impact on our defensive squad.  Olivia earned Honorable Mention All-Conference honors this season.
  Madeline Walter: Maddy was one of our sophomore players this spring, that played mid-field.  She is an extremely athletic player that has a physical presence of the field.  She is another player that continued to improve, and her defensive play was critical for us this year.  She had one goal and three assists on the season.  Maddy earned Honorable Mention All-Conference honors this season.
  Sophia Lee: Sophia was a sophomore that was unable to play for us this season, due to an injury.  She was however very helpful for the coaching staff, and was dedicated to helping the team with anything.  She is an extremely dedicated player that was at every practice and game.  We look forward to having her use her skills for us on the field next year.
  Marley Baker:    Marley was a junior attacking mid-fielder.  Marley is a capable attacking mid that became quite comfortable with heading balls on frame.  Marley’s height helps her to be strong target on set pieces, and particularly corner kicks.  She has an outstanding long service, and was instrumental on our attacks this season.  Marley had five goals and two assists on the season.
  Anna Barger:    Anna was a junior utility player for us this season, that was capable of playing an outside defensive back as well as an attacking forward.  Anna is very fast and eager to learn.  Her speed allowed her to be used in many different positions on the field this spring.  She has become much more physical this past season, and will continue to add to the strength of our team.  Anna had one goal and two assists on the season.
  Megan Humpert: Megan is an extremely hard-working junior defensive player.  Her willingness to learn, and her continual effort was a huge positive model for the rest of our team.  She was tenacious around the goal, and she scored three goals on the season.  Her strength is on the defensive side of the ball.  She works very hard to get the ball from an opposing player.
  Kyra Jammer: Kyra was a junior stopper for us this season.  She is a very athletically talented soccer player.  She has great speed and a dominating presence on the field.  She was our main man-marker, and was used this season to man-mark the opposing teams top offensive player.  She showed great leadership skills on and off the field this spring.  She has the potential of being a dominant player for us this next year.  Kyra earned All-Conference and All-District honors this past season.
  Abbey Kerkau:  Abbey was a junior mid-fielder, that is extremely hard working.  Her improvement throughout the year was impressive.  Her defensive play made her quite valuable as we needed to add defensive pressure in our midfield.  Abbey finished the season with two goals and one assist.
  Laurin Keyes: Laurin was a junior attacking center mid-fielder.  She is a skilled player that can possess and distribute the ball very well.  She took many of our corner kicks during the season, and some of those services led to scores in critical games.  Laurin was instrumental in helping lead and control our attack, and she had five goals and four assists on the season.  She earned All-Conference honors.
  Dana Williams: Dana was a junior halfback that has a very good field presence.  She is a consistent player that is quite good at starting attacks and progressing the ball up field with accurate passing.  She was very positive with the younger players, and helped them to grow this season.  Dana had two goals and two assists on the season.
 Miranda Acevedo: Miranda was a senior foreign exchange student that was a player/manager for the team.  She may have been the most improved player on the team.  Her growth as a player was outstanding, and she was a true bright spot for our team this year.   She scored a goal on a penalty kick season and was more confident with the ball as the season progressed.  It was a joy to have her with us.
 Madi Kischnik: Madi was a senior defensive mid-fielder for us this year.  She brought a hard-working great attitude day after day to practices and games.  Her desire to support the team and be a senior role player was one of the highlights for season.  Madi continually demonstrated maturity and a self-less attitude that progressively spread across the team.
  Kayla Kueffner: Kayla was a senior outside back and captain for the team.  Her leadership and hard work had a huge impact for us this season.  She is very athletic and driven to succeed.  Her defensive skills as a basketball player transferred very well into her aggressive defending on the soccer field.  She was another of our marking players, and her dominance in the air made her a significant presence on the field.  On the attacking side of the ball, she was our most dangerous player on corner kicks that were served in the air.  She earned All-Conference, All-District, and Academic All-State honors this season.
  Lillian Schmidt: Lillian was a four-year varsity senior halfback for us this season.  She is a very fast player that uses her excellent technical skills to be a very dangerous attacking player for opposing defenses.  She is an excellent server, that can send dangerous lofted balls to teammates on the far post.  Lillian was second on the team with 10 goals and led the team with nine assists.  She finished her career with 34 goals and 21 assists.  Lillian earned All-Conference and All-District honors this past season.  She will continue her soccer career as she signed with Kalamazoo College.
  Grace Smith: Grace was a senior defensive mid-fielder that was critical for our defensive success this past season.  She is an aggressive player that works hard to win the ball from the opposing team.  She is a consistent and universal player that was able to play many positions. She had two goals and one assist on the season.  Grace’s efforts in the classroom earned her Academic All-State. 
  Abby Struble: Abby was another four-year varsity senior player that was our defensive sweeper.  She was one of our captains, and had that role for the last two years.  She is a very quick player that plays with outstanding patience and control.  Over the years of being on the varsity team, it was incredible on how she grew into a great defensive center back.  She has always had a great desire to learn, and is quick to make adjustments when necessary.  Abby’s play this season was critical for our ability to shut down dangerous attacking teams.  She was an excellent leader for us these past two seasons.  She earned All-Conference, All-District, and Academic All-State honors (as our salutatorian) this year.
  Coaching Staff: “I want to thank our coaching staff for all of their hard work and support of the team this season.  These dedicated coaches are John Deterding, Brad Thompson, Heather Little and Liz Merrihew.  Each coach has special gifts and talents that allow the whole staff to work effectively with the team,” Stenglein commented. “We also had the privilege of having Derek Williams help us with our training sessions.  He is a gifted player that brought intense speed to our sessions.  I also want to thank the parents that continually support to make this program successful.  
    “I will miss these seniors and all that they have done to make this a successful year.  I know that all of these Seniors will continue to grow as young ladies, by taking the many life lessons they have experienced along the way in soccer.  My continual prayer is for them to use their talents to serve others and God as they continue their individual life journeys.  As the next chapter of their lives begin, they can progress with confidence that Frankenmuth High School along with their wonderful families, have prepared them for the challenges and opportunities that await each one of them.”

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