MAGNAN FORCE: Northville in good hands with 4-year starting keeper
Northville senior Simran Magnan has started every game for the Mustangs since the second game of her freshman season.
One day when Simran Magnan was 10 years old, her Northville Rush soccer team’s starting goal-keeper quit, opening up a massive hole in the back end of the team’s defense.
“Our coach asked us who wanted to do it, and I said, ‘I’ll try it for a day’,” recounted Magnan, who was a center-midfielder throughout her pre-goalie career.
Eight years later, she’s still at it.
And thriving.
Memorable first save
“I still remember my very first save,” Magnan shared, smiling. “The ball hit off the post and hit me in the face. I remember thinking, ‘Yeah, this is for me’.”
The architect of 14 shutouts this season alone, Magnan has become so skilled at protecting the net, she rarely needs the help of the posts these days.
But the personable senior can’t emphasize enough how much she relies on the Mustangs’ back line of defenders.
“Our back line is phenomenal,” she said more than once during an interview early Sunday night. “Trust me, I’m their biggest cheerleader. They’s so good, there are long stretches where I literally don’t have to do anything.
“We lost three of our starting defenders to graduation last year; Annie Hummel was the only one coming back and she has been amazing. But we’ve had two sophomores — Sahra Al-Zoubi and Natalia Hurd — who have really stepped up and have done a great job.”
Her strengths are plentiful
Asked about Magnan’s best goal-keeper attributes, Northville Head Coach Jeannine Reddy listed plenty.
“First of all, she’s a great teammate and she works extremely hard,” Reddy said. “She’s pretty serious when she’s out there; I think she’s having fun, but sometimes I’m not sure (Reddy smiled). She internalizes her energies … and she hides her emotions well. The coaches and her teammates can read her, but I don’t think opponents can.
“Simran still collects all the soccer balls for me after practice. I’m like, ‘Why are you doing this?’ But it’s just her personality. She’s my manager, my captain, my goalie — she’s everything, and I’m going to miss her so much after this season.”
Quick promotion
Magnan said she started her freshman season on JV, but two games into the season she was promoted to the varsity team’s starting goalie.
The Mustangs advanced all the way to the MHSAA Division 1 championship game that season.
“When people asked me, ‘You’re starting a freshman?’, I just told them, ‘Hey, she works so hard in practice, she deserves it.’ I’ve always been a coach that looks at a player’s talent and potential more than her age.
“She’s such a great leader, too. Tonight (Sunday), for example, she called the team together before practice and explained to the younger players what it means to be in this position, what it means to be in the final four. This is her third time making it to the final four in four years, so she knows what she’s talking about.”
Once Magnan committed herself to becoming the best soccer goalie she could be, her father built her a soccer goal in the family’s backyard.
“My dad built it out of pipes,” she reflected. “It didn’t last long, though, because I kind of got a little too aggressive with it and it broke.
“I live close to here (the high school’s field), so I’m at the field almost every day working on my game.”
Marvelous mentality
Magnan said she often relies on motivational sayings to keep her mentally sharp.
“I take a ‘I’m a brick wall’ mentality to the field,” she said. “And when I’m about to face a PK, one of my teammates tells me, ‘Slay the day’. I love little quotes like that.”
Both Reddy and Magnan had a difficult time singling out the four-year starter’s most impactful save during her tenure at Northville.
“She’s made so many,” Reddy said.
Biggest save?
But they ultimately decided on a diving stop she made her ninth-grade season.
“I saved a PK against Canton and we ended up winning 1-0,” Magnan said.
The save was doubly satisfying for player and coach because Reddy was Canton’s head coach the previous year.
Paying it forward
Magnan, who will continue her soccer and academic career (she plans on pursuing a pre-med degree) at Kalamazoo College in the fall, said she loves working with the team’s young keepers.
“I remember being a young player myself,” she said. “I was so nervous early on, but my older teammates took me under their wing and made me feel comfortable.
“It’s nice to know I’m in a position now when I can kind of pay it forward.”
Tough tests forthcoming
Northville faces Byron Center in an MHSAA D1 semifinal game set for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Grand Ledge.
A victory would propel the Mustangs into their second championship game in the past four seasons Saturday at 4 p.m. at Michigan State University against the winner of Wednesday’s Saline-Troy Athens encounter.
“My best advice to my younger teammates would be to stay calm and play your game,” she said. “There’s obviously more pressure the further you advance in the tournament, but you have to stay in the moment.”
And the Mustangs can rest assured that if by chance the ball squeezes through the back line, they’re still in good hands with Simran Magnan as their last line of defense.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
