Calhoun Christian/St. Philip girls soccer makes history with first district championship

POTTERVILLE - When the game was over, the Calhoun Christian/St. Philip girls soccer team lined up for a photo with a piece of historic hardware.

It was a bunch of happy athletes smiling for the camera as the Calhoun Christian/St. Philip squad made history by winning the first-ever district title in program history.

"Yeah, we just made history," Calhoun Christian/St. Philip girls soccer coach Tim Bandeen said. "In every game we played this year, we talked about we had one mission and that was to get to this point. we had districts on our mind from Game 1."

The Calhoun Christian/St. Philip co-op defeated Jonesville, 5-0, in this Division 4 district final game at Potterville High School in girls soccer action on Thursday.

Calhoun Christian/St. Philip improves to 9-6-1 and advances to a regional semifinal at Portage Northern High School on Tuesday.

Leading the way was Calhoun Christian/St. Philip freshman Mylee Grimm, who had three goals in the championship game on Thursday. Grimm also had a hat trick in the 6-0 semifinal win over Potterville for the Cougars on Wednesday.

"I couldn't really do it without my teammates," Grimm said. "A lot of good passing out there today. This feels good to win this. Putting in the work all year in practice. It feels good to finally have this moment."

Grimm's first goal came off an assist by junior Elise Wylie and made it 1-0 at the 14:21 mark of the first half. But that was all the scoring before intermission.

"I think Jonesville did a good job of putting a lot of pressure on us in the first half," Bandeen said. "I think our team finally learned how to move past that a little bit in the second half and get to the finish. It was a slow build to today's game, but really pleased with the results."

Wylie put Calhoun Christian/St. Philip up 2-0 midway through the second half at the 19:51 mark. From there, the Cougars gained a lot of momentum with Grimm scoring two straight, the second coming off a corner kick from Ally Bandeen to make it 4-0 with 6:51 remaining. A late goal by freshman Lidiya Lapratt finished off the scoring for the 5-0 win.

Senior Mimi Hibbard earned the shutout in goal for Calhoun Christian/St. Philip, finishing the entire district tourney without giving up a goal.

"This means everything in the world to me right now," said Calhoun Christian/St. Philip junior Elise Wylie. "I have been on this team for three years and we have never done this. I owe it all to my girls. They really made this happen."

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Calhoun Christian/St. Philip girls soccer wins first district title