Dewitt’s Mackenzie Dawes, right, and Lansing Catholic’s Kate Burns battle for the ball Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in DeWitt, Mich. DeWitt won 2-0.
DEWITT – Mackenzie Dawes and the DeWitt girls soccer team aren’t ones to dwell on the past – even if it means letting go of last year’s memorable season that ended in the Division 2 state semifinals.
So when the top-seeded Panthers rolled into Tuesday’s CAAC Gold Cup first-round matchup with Lansing Catholic, there was no reminiscing of last year’s opening-round Gold Cup exit. All the focus was on preparation for another potentially deep postseason run.
And DeWitt still put itself in position to pick up some more hardware on the way.
The CAAC Red champions and No. 2-ranked Panthers opened the annual conference tournament with a 2-0 victory over the Cougars and will move on to face rival and defending champions Haslett in the semifinals Thursday at DeWitt High School.
“We have high expectations for ourselves,” said Dawes, who scored the game’s opening goal with 21:44 left in the match. “Being a young team last year, we knew that we still had a good chance (at a state title) this year. We put in a lot of work in the offseason.
“Every game matters. …If you slack off, then who knows, you could go into districts with that mentality. And we don’t want that.”
The Panthers (15-0-2), who picked up a victory over No. 6-ranked Detroit Country Day last week, showed off their firepower in the attacking third, but failed to see results until Dawes’ goal midway through the second half.
DeWitt put seven shots on goal in the first 40 minutes, but Lansing Catholic keeper Larisa Herdus cleanly sent away any near scoring opportunities. Herdus, a sophomore, had 16 saves on the night.
The Panthers put together their strongest possession with about 11 minutes remaining when junior Madison Tiemann put home a Danielle Stephan-assisted goal from just outside the 18-yard box.
Tiemann said she noticed areas of needed improvement for her side, which is one of the reasons a run in the Gold Cup is important.
“Especially with playoffs in a couple of weeks, we’re going to try and fix the mistakes we made in here before (districts),” Tiemann added. “We just have high expectations for each other, and we want to play for each other.”
For the Cougars (8-4-1), who finished second in the CAAC White this season, the defeat showed their ability to battle with tough teams, according to junior captain Abigail Gilmore, as they prepare for a playoff run of their own.
“Going forward, we’re going to see good teams – maybe not quite as good as them,” Gilmore said. “It was good to get a feel of what’s to come.”
THURSDAY’S SEMIFINALS (TIMES TBA)
No. 4 Haslett at No. 1 DeWitt
No. 3 Williamston at No. 2 Okemos
Contact James L. Edwards III at jledwards@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII.