The soccer UP finals were held in Marquette on Saturday, October 15th. The Marquette Redmen took home their 15th consecutive title after beating Iron Mountain 9–1 and Kingsford in the championship game 4–0.
Against Iron Mountain, Max Dawson scored his 100th career varsity goal to get the game started. The goal was assisted by Isaac johnson. Other goal scorers in the first half were Ben Wilson from Dixon Poggi and Kaleb Chipelewski, Ezra Pickard on a penalty kick and Isaac Johnson from Max Dawson. Iron Mountain scored in the first half as well cutting the lead to 2–1. Goalkeeper Edan Hautamaki faced four shots in the first half. In the second half, it was all Marquette. Max Dawson scored back to back goals, the first assisted by Ezra Pickard and the second was unassisted. Cody Struck scored from Henry Wood followed by Evan Sysko scoring from Ezra Pickard. Ethan Sandstrom finished off the scoring for the mercy win from a Kaleb Chipelewski pass. Hautamaki faced just one shot in the second half.
“We were pretty excited as a team that Max got his 100th career goal. For his teammates to be a part of that is pretty special as it is for the coaches.” Coach Dan Salmon
Marquette’s Henry Wood advances the ball past an Iron Mountain defender. Mary Sysko photo
Evan Sysko (on left in red) passes the ball to his brother Jack vs Iron Mountain. Mary Sysko photo
In the championship game against Kingsford, Marquette held on to a 1–0 halftime lead off an Ethan Sandstrom goal which was assisted by Isaac Johnson. Edan Hautamaki faced three shots in net in the first half. In the second half, it was all seniors for Marquette. Ezra Pickard scored from Evan Sysko on a free kick, Isaac Johnson scored from Max Dawson and then Pickard finished the scoring on a penalty kick.
“The seniors made their mark on this game in the second half. Evan, Max, Ezra, and Isaac were not going to be denied the championship. These guys worked hard. It was a great team effort especially from the defense. Particularly, Indigo Catalano and Hunter Sandstrom shut down the middle of the field. Each year we win this, it puts more pressure on the next year and I couldn’t be more proud of how this team responded. We are a young team and we came along way from the start of the season.” Coach Dan Salmon
Hunter Sandstrom (in pink on the left) plays defense against Kingsford. Mary Sysko photo
Marquette wins their 15th consecutive UP finals. Mary Sysko photo
Marquette finishes the season 21-2-3 on the season which included 22 straight games without a loss. Marquette is coached by Dan Salmon with assistant coaches Collin Lake, Paul Lagrou, and Liam Jeevar.
Bayside Soccer of Escanaba beat Copper Country in division two.
