SHARP CORNERS: Plymouth wins with 2 dazzling set-piece goals
Plymouth junior Simon Sherman charges toward the net during the first half of Thursday’s Senior Night match against Novi.
It’s difficult to pick which of the two corner kick-ignited goals the Plymouth boys soccer team scored Thursday night was most impressive.
This much is certain, though: They were both equally important and perfectly executed.
The Wildcats capped their 2024 “Senior Night” festivities with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Novi, improving their KLAA West Division record to 8-2-4, good enough for second place behind unbeaten Northville.
Plymouth will host either Livonia Stevenson or Dearborn in next week’s KLAA Conference cross-over.
‘Cats top seed in district tourney
The Wildcats also earned a No. 1 seed — and the only first-round bye — in the District 11 post-season tournament hosted by Canton. Plymouth will open district play Oct. 14 at 5:30 p.m. against the winner of the Oct. 9 Canton-Wayne Memorial contest.
Salem will play Westland John Glenn in its district opener. A victory would propel the Rocks into the Oct. 14 7 p.m. match against the winner of Livonia Churchill-Livonia Franklin.
Plymouth’s 12 seniors weren’t looking ahead Thursday night; they were savoring the moments when they were recognized along with their parents during a pre-game ceremony before hitting the pitch for their final KLAA West match.
It only took the host Wildcats just over four minutes to seize a 1-0 lead.
(To watch video highlights of Thursday’s match, click here.)
Senior James “JR” Maitland slid a ground-hugging corner-kick pass parallel to the goal line that senior Will Dani — with his back to the net — deftly touched behind him to Jackson Studenka, who deposited the ball past Novi keeper Chris Miller.
Plymouth kept the pressure on
While the early corner was Plymouth’s lone first-half goal, it was far from the Wildcats’ only threat. Maitland, streaking down the right flank, missed the far post by a couple of feet after he chased down a dime by Dani and rocketed a shot beyond the diving Miller.
Plymouth nearly manufactured some corner-kick magic again mid-way through the first half when Maitland launched a high floater over the scrum of players positioned in front of the net to junior Garrett Meeks, who delivered a perfect header to Kavi Behrend.
Behrend waited for the ball to bounce once before one-timing a shot that barely sailed over the cross-bar.
Later in the half, Dani was on the receiving end of a cross by Simon Sherman, but the ball was cleared out of harm’s way by Novi’s Josh Amalraj.
Plymouth’s second-half near-misses included a thread-the-needle pass from Behrend to Maitland, whose header floated over the net.
One more perfect corner for the win
After Novi deadlocked the game at 1-1 on a well-struck upper-90 net-finder by Connor Mruk with 26 minutes to play, Plymouth countered three minutes later when Maitland’s textbook corner-kick pass was headed in by senior Spencer Prouty, who out-jumped a group of green-and-white Wildcats for a spectacular goal.
Novi mounted multiple threats in the closing minutes — the most dangerous coming when a foul was called on Plymouth just outside the 18-yard box, leading to a short-range free kick — but Wildcat sophomore keeper Cam Schlaud made sure the net behind him remained empty.
Plymouth senior Garrett Bazick made Novi’s keepers sweat on more than a few occasions with hustling efforts that were subdued at the last second with smothering saves.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
