Hartland earns tie against tough Salem squad, remains atop KLAA West girls soccer

Source: Yahoo Sports

HARTLAND -- There are only two active high school soccer players in Livingston County who know the feeling of winning a state championship.

Hartland seniors Emma Kastamo and Alysse Daavettila also know the qualities and work ethic needed to achieve the ultimate goal, having played key roles during the Eagles' title run as freshmen in 2021.

They see those traits in their current team, which is ranked fourth in Division 1 and remains atop the tough KLAA West after battling to a 1-1 tie with 10th-ranked Salem Tuesday night.

The tie ended Hartland's seven-game winning streak, but extended its unbeaten streak to eight games since a season-opening 2-1 loss to Salem on March 21.

"It really does," Kastamo said when asked if this team reminds her of the 2021 squad. "We are finding our rhythm. Everyone works so hard on this team. I have belief we could totally go far. We just have to keep taking it game by game, because this is a very hard league."

As one of the Eagles' three captains, Kastamo tries to apply lessons learned from 2021 leaders Kamryn Gereck, Maria Storm and Justina L'Esperance.

"When we went down a goal, we didn't hang our heads," said Kastamo, a starter on defense as a freshman. "We kept going. That really came from previous years with the leaders. They kept us positive. As a captain, I'm trying to help with that, because that's what I learned from that team three years ago."

The Eagles' dedication in practice and performance on game nights feel very much like what Daavettila experienced as a key reserve her freshman year.

"We have a lot of individuals who work hard, that are competitive," she said. "We all try to push ourselves. We have good leaders this year, which is very important to hold ourselves accountable when we make mistakes so we can get better."

Another common thread between the 2021 and 2024 Eagles is the difficulty they've had trying to beat Salem.

The Rocks handed the Eagles two of their four losses three years ago and are 1-0-1 this season against a Hartland team that is 7-0 against everyone else.

"They're a really good team," Kastamo said. "It's been kind of a battle between us."

Salem has had its issues with other teams in the KLAA West, allowing Hartland to assume first place in the division at 6-1-1 for 19 points. Canton and Salem are tied for second at 4-1-3 for 15 points.

The Rocks struck first when Katie Parana scored 5 minutes, 40 seconds into the game. Kastamo scored the equalizer with 14:36 left in the first half.

"Addie Frantti was dribbling down the left side and she had a beautiful cross," Kastamo said. "Alyse left it for me. I saw the goalie was close side, so I went far side and just passed it in."

There would be no more scoring in the final 54 minutes and 36 seconds, but there was certainly no lack of opportunities.

In one stretch early in the second half, Hartland had a free kick that morphed into four straight corner kicks. The Eagles had three dangerous scoring chances that were stopped by Salem goalie Morganne Jones.

Salem's Claire Hammill rang a 30-yard free kick off the crossbar with 14:02 left in the game. The frame of the net then bailed out the Rocks when Daavettila hit the right goal post on a breakaway in the box with 1:53 remaining.

"It was pretty unlucky," Daavettila said. "On a breakaway, you want to for sure get a goal; it's your best opportunity. I was trying to aim low corner and it happened to hit the post. It was chaos after it came off the post."

As a coach, Hartland's Andrew Kartsounes is reluctant to compare any current team to his state championship squad.

"I don't know if I'll go that far yet," he said. "Of course, that team lost a couple games back-to-back in the middle of that season. Then we turned around after that. This team has started out really well. We've got eight without a loss, but the league is definitely going to put a lot of pressure on us all the time. That's good. That's going to keep us focused, because we'll have to stay focused if we want to keep winning games."

Contact Bill Khan at [email protected]. Follow him on X @BillKhan