Over the past seven years the Mt. Pleasant High School girls soccer team has been nothing short of very good.
As it stands the Oilers have played in six district finals since 2011 and have won four of them. During this time frame Mt. Pleasant has outscored its postseason opponents 72-24.
Moreover, the Oilers have consistently produced some of the best talent in mid-Michigan as Emma and Hannah Kahn went on to play soccer at Western Michigan University. Whitnee Foote and Ally Wentworth have also gone on to play at Alma College while Millie Randall advanced to the collegiate ranks at Delta College.
While the mid-Michigan area isn’t exactly considered a major prep soccer hub in the state the Oilers have been consistently excellent.
So far this season John Bunting and his Oilers have been solid, albeit their record of 4-5-2 might not jump off the page and grab your attention like their 18-win season in 2012 did or their 16-win season two years ago did. However, don’t be too surprised if Mt. Pleasant turns it on later this month and puts together another postseason run.
As of right now the Oilers are just trying to keep on keeping on as numerous injuries have numerous players sidelined. In Saturday’s home loss to Traverse City Central the Oilers had only one substitution for the entire game. And when you consider of the 17 players on the roster a total of 10 of them are underclassmen you come to understand Mt. Pleasant’s early-season plight. “A lot of our seniors (5) have stepped into new roles this season because they had to,” said Bunting, who graduated a talented class of eight seniors from last year’s team that went 10-8-2 overall and lost to Cadillac 1-0 in a Division 2 district final. “For the most part we have been good defensively, it’s just we have struggled scoring goals. We’ve changed our style this season and play more as a team. Before we could run with teams and had a more offensive mindset, this season we’re playing more as a unit.”
Back in 2013 Mt. Pleasant had a super young team and it went 18-2-2 and was ranked seventh in Division 2, closing the season out with a loss to sixth-ranked Fenton in regionals. While this year’s team might not have the star power that that team did Bunting still draws comparisons between the two.
“We won the conference that year with a young team and we’re equally young this season,” he said. “Realistically, we’re rebuilding a little this season but we’re optimistic especially when we look at districts.”
On paper most of the Oilers’ losses have come to Division 1 programs and nearly every single loss has been close, including 2-0 defeats to Midland Dow and Bay City Western. Dow opened the season ranked 20th in Division 1.
Yet, when the Oilers have played against Division 2 teams they have had success as they have beaten Ortonville Brandon, Ovid-Elsie and Bay City John Glenn.
When districts open on May 29 the Oilers will host Bay City Central, a team that it could very well beat. If they win that game they would host Bay City John Glenn. And if they win that contest they would play for a D2 district title.
“We’ve played against quality teams all season, it’s been one of our most challenging schedules,” said Bunting. “We might not break the .500 mark record wise, but we will be ready for districts.”