BY JAMES COOK
jcook@record-eagle.com
June 04, 2009 07:15 am TRAVERSE CITY -- No matter which side of the ball you're on, if you're playing against Suttons Bay, you'll likely bump into a Moyer. Cheboygan did on several occasions, and it helped the Norse to a 2-0 Division 3 regional semifinal soccer victory. Kali Moyer scored a goal and her older sister Chelsea saved several others for Suttons Bay. "One defends and one attacks," Kali Moyer said. "Either way, you're going to get one of us." With the Norse clinging to a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Michelle Ness goal, Kali Moyer struck with a left-footed goal that gave Suttons Bay a two-goal cushion with 5:32 remaining in the game played at Traverse City's Coast Guard fields. "Brandi Albarado played the ball up to me," Kali Moyer said, who notched her sixth goal of the playoffs, matching her regular-season output. "I saw a girl coming at me and I went to my left foot and saw the back post open." Several minutes earlier it was Chelsea Moyer who had two important clears as freshman goalie Brittany Mikowski was out of the net. "She did the right thing coming out," Chelsea Moyer said. "I just dropped back and hoped for the best." Chelsea Moyer stepped in front of a Shealynn Guthrie shot and got her foot up in the air to deflect the ball and then made another clear two minutes later. "Chelsea is a senior, so we've seen a lot of that," Suttons Bay coach Ryan DeFour said. "She saved us. And Brittany is a freshman, so for her to step up in a game this big was really big for us." Mikowski had some nice plays of her own, most notably a perfectly-played save in between Chelsea Moyer's. Cheboygan's Jordan Kopp floated in a shot that looked like it would sneak in just under the crossbar, but Mikowski tracked the ball and was able to jump and punch the ball out. "There was a real nasty cross breeze, and she followed it all the way back and tapped it over the bar," DeFour said. "Incredible. Very well done." The Norse will play in Friday's regional championship game at Shelby at 7 p.m. against a 12-10 Fremont squad, which defeated Muskegon Oakridge 2-1 Wednesday. The win added to an already remarkable run by Suttons Bay, which entered the playoffs with a 5-14-4 record and haven't been scored on in four postseason games, notching a 19-0 goal differential so far. "We have seniors on this team who have been to the final four twice," DeFour said. "They know they can do it; they just have to put it together. I'm a little surprised how quickly they've gotten into playoff mode. They snapped right in and the seniors have stepped up. Chelsea Moyer and Michelle Ness have been huge." Cheboygan was playing without head coach Mark Stormzand, who was having shoulder surgery. Assistant coach George Felski took over for the day. "We talked to him on speaker phone," Felski said. "I don't think (it was a factor). Depth-wise, we have a lot of injuries. Three (members) of our defense are hurting. We have to adjust some things. Our depth just wasn't there." All three games between the two teams this year have been shutouts, with Suttons Bay winning the first regular-season meeting 3-0 and the Chiefs claiming the second 1-0. A key to Suttons Bay's win was shutting down Cheboygan's potent offense. "Amy Charboneau, she played left wing, center, right -- switching around to make them adjust," Felski said of the forward who has already set the Chiefs' career scoring record as a junior. "They had two girls on her. "They know she's dangerous and they know Jordan Kopp is dangerous as well, so they adjusted their defense to double mark Amy and mark Jordan. They bodied them a lot. Amy is a small girl, and that kind of took her out of her game." The Norse defense recorded its ninth shutout of the year. "Chelsea is the super star, but Erin (Dingrando) is a fantastic player also," DeFour said. "And our outside backs played great -- Becky Stillin and Christy Miller." Ness put the Norse up in the 12th minute, blasting a shot into the upper right corner of the net. "We haven't won that many times, but when we score first we've won every single time," DeFour said. Up next Suttons Bay and the Traverse City Liberty are the final two area soccer teams alive. Division 3 -- Suttons Bay will play for a regional title at 7 p.m. in Shelby against Fremont. Division 4 -- TC Liberty will travel to Holton Friday for a 2 p.m. showdown with Muskegon Western Michigan Christian.
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