Leland boys soccer advanced to a regional final by defeating Harbor Springs 4-0 Tuesday at Cadillac.
Leland junior Cooper Burda led the Comets with a hat trick, all in the second half.
“We had a lot of shots on the keeper. We had to keep it up and finish our chances,” Burda said. “(Going into the regional finals) we have to keep up the momentum and play our game and hopefully get a win Thursday.”
No. 6-ranked Leland battles No. 2 Muskegon Western Michigan Christian at 6 p.m. Thursday in a regional final hosted by Cadillac.
“I'm so excited for the guys that get to play in this game on Thursday because we've got some assistant coaches that have played this exact game over the last seven years, multiple times,” Leland coach Rob Sirrine said of WMC. “It’s always a battle because they have just obviously a quality program.”
WMC won the state championship three years in a row before the Comets ended that run and claimed the title last season. Each of the past seven seasons, Leland and WMC battled it out in the regional, quarterfinal or semifinals. The Warriors defeated Leland 2-0 earlier this season.
The No. 11-ranked Rams and Comets battled to a scoreless first-half tie. Leland controlled most of the first half, but it wasn’t without a flurry of Harbor Springs chances. The Comets had seven shots on net compared to two shots for the Rams.
Leland senior Jose Roman had a header that nearly went in, and Burda nearly had a rifled side shot, both stopped by diving saves from Harbor Springs sophomore goalie Turner Schultz.
The Rams almost got a penalty shot after a collision in the box, but the call wasn’t made, as senior Aaron Baughman and sophomore Landon Bads led the attack.
The Comets had one solid chance late in the half and came up empty.
It took 10 minutes into the second half for Leland to finally get on the board, and then they were off to the races.
The Comets would have been up 3-0 if not for Harbor Springs sophomore goalie Turner Schultz, who made seven saves in the first half. The Comets had to outlast the Rams' high-pressing defense that led to a 0-0 halftime. Burda got the scoring going, then Luigi Maresca scored the second goal less than two minutes later, opening the floodgates.
The Comets defeated Harbor Springs 2-0 back in September.
The Rams ended their season with a 14-5-1 record and finished in the Northern Shores Conference.
Harbor Springs center back Alex Marquardt left the field at halftime with a leg injury.
Harbor Springs graduate two seniors, as Baughman and Colin Hull put on the Rams kit for the last time.
“(Aaron) was just a phenomenal leader, led by example, and poured himself into this game and into the team. It was a joy to coach him for four years,” Harbor Springs coach Jeff Suffolk said. “(Hull) had a great growth trajectory. He was a kid we couldn't take off the field this year, and his time in soccer isn't done … he's a true soccer player. I'm going to miss both of them.”
Harbor Springs will bring back most of its roster to make a run in 2027.
“The fun part about this team and the fun part about high school coaching is that you can, you always can look forward to the next crop of players, but we're building something pretty special we have for the last seven years,” Suffolk said. “These seniors, some of these guys have never lost to some of our rivals in the past. They'll finish their career undefeated against teams like Charlevoix, Boyne City … The younger guys are dedicated kids to this team, to the school. We've got some really big players coming up. Eight of our starters are juniors or sophomores, which speaks volumes about the talent and the work these guys put in, that they can hang with some of these teams.”
