MICHIGAN GIRLS SOCCER: District champion Farmington Hills Mercy’s top player will serve three-game suspension by MHSAA for out-of-school participation
- Dan Stickradt
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – Farmington Hills Mercy will try to move on in the MHSAA Division 2 state tournament without its best player.
It was reported Monday to the MHSAA that Mercy, which had just won a district title last week with three wins, including a 3-0 upset over No. 2-ranked Birmingham Marian in the district finals, had been using a player that recently played in an out-of-school competition during the last couple of weeks.
The player in question had suited up with Flint City AFC, an amateur/pre-professional team that competes May through July in the United Women’s Soccer league. Those teams promote their matches, starting lineups and entire rosters/bench players on social media and one of the team’s games was aired live on the National Soccer Network’s YouTube and Roku TV channels last month where the player in question did gain some game action.
The MHSAA ruling handed down Monday afternoon is a three-game suspension for any player that opts to attend a national team youth event, youth-club soccer event or amateur/pre-professional game or event while still being on a high school roster at the same time. Student-athletes at MHSAA-member schools cannot play a particular high school sport or the same club sport or pre-professional sport at the same time without having to serve a suspension for the first offense.
The player in question is not eligible to play in the regional semifinals, regional finals or state semifinals if the Marlins are to advance that far into the state tournament. She would be eligible to play in the state finals if Mercy were to win its next three games. The player in question was also considered a likely All-State First Team player and an All-State Dream Team candidate, but the All-Region and All-State teams in each division will be selected by a panel of coaches over the next two weeks and its uncertain how the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association will deal with this unfortunate series of events.
Mercy last won a district title in 2022 when the particular athlete was a freshman starter and her team was competing in Division 1 enrollment-wise. The athlete did earn All-State Honorable Mention status that year. The particular athlete did not participate in high school soccer as a sophomore or junior (2023 and 2024 spring seasons) as she was playing in the ECNL (Elite Clubs National League) but opted to come back to her Mercy squad as a senior. She started each game this season through the district finals. The player has also signed with an NCAA Division I school.
Mercy is trying to go after its first regional title since 1990 this week. The player will not be able to dress and play in the Division 2 regional semifinals game Wednesday against CHSL rival Dearborn Divine Child (12-5-2) at 7:15 p.m. Those two teams tied 2-2 back on May 12, as Divine Child was listed as Top 15 or honorable mention in the polls all season and entered the postseason listed as honorable mention in the MIHSSCA polls.
During the regular season, Mercy finished 5-5-6 overall and in fifth place in the Catholic High School League Central Division at 0-2-2. The Marlins did not qualify for the CHSL Bishop Tournament.
During the regular season, Mercy outscored its 16 opponents 19-11 with 11 shutouts but were shutout nine times, including four 0-0 ties. The Marlins team goals-against-average was 0.69 in the regular season.
In three district games last week, Mercy, listed as honorable mention in the Division 2 in the MHSSCA polls, defeated Oak Park (8-0), Western Wayne Athletic Conference champion Garden City (7-0) and Marian (3-0). Mercy lost to Marian in the regular season (1-0 on April 29 in CHSL-Central Division league play) as Marian was last year’s Division 2 state runner-up and the favorite in the district before the Marlins sprung the upset.
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Overall this season including the postseason, Mercy is 8-5-6 with 11 shutouts, a 37-11 scoring edge and nine shutouts against over 19 total games. In the 19 games, the team goals-against-average is a paltry 0.58 while the aforementioned 11 shutouts is one of the higher totals in program history. A total of 16 of the 37 goals scored this season by Mercy came in the Oak Park district win and an 8-0 victory early in the regular season against Dearborn Heights Crestwood back on April 1.
Administration and coaches from Farmington Hills Mercy did not return phone calls made by the National Soccer Network Newsroom on Monday and Tuesday.
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(Have a story suggestion for the Premier Media Group and the National Soccer Network regarding club/youth soccer, high school varsity, amateur soccer, collegiate soccer or professional soccer involving teams, players or coaches with ties to a particular state or states, contact Web and Content Editor/Director of News Dan Stickradt via email at dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com and news@nationalsoccernetwork.com, or call 248-525-2349.
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