Marshall traveled to Hastings Wednesday ith and with a 2-0 win they claimed an undefeated, undisputed conference championship. The win moved Marshall’s record in I-8 Conference play to 6-0-0 this season. Marshall outscored I-8 opponents by a margin of 28 to 1 this spring. Marshall earned shutouts in 5 of 6 league games. It is Marshall’s 9th consecutive league title. They have claimed at least a share of every I-8 Championship since the league was formed.
Marshall dominated the game from start to finish, getting goals in each half. The scoreboard didn’t really tell the whole story as Marshall should probably have won by a larger margin, but they weren’t about to let that upset them on their Championship night as they celebrated robustly at the conclusion of the game.
Almost exactly halfway through the first half, Anaya Burghdorf put Marshall on the board when Stefanie DeLong and Addison Waito combined nicely to give Burghdorf an empty net to finish info and give Marshall a 1-0 lead. The goal was her second on the season and her second in the last two games. It allowed Marshall to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.
In the second half, it was more of the same as Marshall dominated the ball and the chances, but really could have done a better job of making their superiority show on the scoreboard. With 17 minutes left to play in the match, Marshall put together a very nice passing sequence that involved several players but concluded by Jordyn St. John and Ollie Rozell setting up Waito with time and space at the top of the box. Waito fired a shot over the keeper’s head and into the net to give Marshall a 2-0 lead and put the game to bed. The goal was Waito’s 12th of the season and the fifth consecutive game she has netted a goal in. It was the fourth consecutive game that Rozell has earned an assist.
Aly Zulewski handled the few balls that Hastings put on her net for the shutout. It was her fifth shutout of the season (Marshall’s sixth shutout overall) and the second in a row for both Zulewski and the Redhawks.
The win moves Marshall, which reappeared in the Division 2 state rankings this week at #14, to 9-3-3. After starting the season 1-3-0, Marshall is now unbeaten in their last 11 games (8-0-3). Marshall will finish their regular season with a non-conference game against Otsego, who was noted as Honorable Mention in Division 2 in this week’s state rankings. After the Otsego game, Marshall, by virtue of being the top seed in the district earned a bye in the 1st round of MHSAA district play and will play the winner of the Jackson Northwest -v- Jackson (Parma) Western game at Mason High School on Tuesday, May 28, at 5 p.m.
