West Catholic tops Traverse City St. Francis, reaches first state final

West Catholic turned a milestone season into an even bigger one Tuesday at Cedar Springs High School, beating Traverse City St. Francis 2-0 in the Division 3 semifinals and sending the Falcons to their first girls soccer state final. For Grand Traverse County readers, it was the end of a breakthrough postseason for the Gladiators and the start of a title opportunity for a Grand Rapids program that had never reached this stage before.

The loss stopped Traverse City St. Francis after the first state semifinal appearance in program history, a run that had carried the Gladiators all the way to Cedar Springs after they outscored opponents 22-2 in the postseason. That surge had made St. Francis look like a legitimate Division 3 contender, but West Catholic’s defense held firm and preserved the shutout as the Falcons extended their winning streak to six games.

West Catholic improved to 18-5-2 with the win and added another first to a season already packed with them. The Falcons had won their first regional title earlier in the postseason, and now they will play for the program’s first state championship. MHSAA lists West Catholic as a Division 3 school with an enrollment of 496 in the OK Conference-Gold.

The Falcons will meet Detroit Country Day in the Division 3 final at 1 p.m. Friday at Michigan State University’s DeMartin Soccer Complex in East Lansing. The championship round is part of the June 12-13 girls soccer finals schedule at MSU, with the Division 3 matchup set as one of the weekend’s top events.

For Traverse City St. Francis, the semifinal loss does not erase the scale of what happened this spring. The Gladiators reached a place no previous St. Francis girls soccer team had gotten, and they did it with a postseason stretch that overwhelmed opponents until West Catholic brought the run to a close. That kind of breakout changes expectations in Traverse City, where next year’s roster will come back carrying both the weight of a new standard and the proof that the program can play with the state’s best.