Bloomfield Hills celebrates its third-straight regional title in a 19-10 win over Birmingham Seaholm at Troy Athens High School.
By: Jonathan Szczepaniak | Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle | Published June 5, 2023
BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Bloomfield Hills High School’s girls lacrosse program has been a master of consistency the past three seasons.
The Oakland Activities Association-Red league champions have rattled off three-straight winning seasons and three-straight trips to the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 state tournament semifinals.
Only problem, it’s been Groundhog Day the past two trips to the semifinals for Bloomfield Hills (19-3) with back-to-back losses to Brighton High.
After earning a 19-10 win over league rival Birmingham Seaholm June 3 to secure the program’s third-straight regional title, Bloomfield Hills was focused on unfinished business as it was scheduled to head into another semifinals matchup against Brighton June 7, after press time, at Fenton High School.
“I think, as a team, we didn’t want to feel that awful feeling of losing in the state semis to Brighton for the third year in a row, so we took what we had last year, which was a great group, and developed the younger girls into the style that we play and just come in with a sense of urgency, focus and just wanting to get to that next step,” junior Ella Lucia said.
This is nowhere near the same Bloomfield Hills team, and Lucia isn’t the same player Brighton remembers from past seasons.
Leading the team with 108 goals on the year, Lucia, a two-time first team all-State honoree, asserted herself as one of the most dominant scorers in the state, showcasing her ability to score wherever and whenever she wants.
“She motivates the rest of the team because she has a motor that does not quit,” Bloomfield Hills coach Christina Arens said. “She keeps going no matter how tired she is. If she got checked really hard in the hand, I can’t even get her to come off the field even if I wanted to because that just motivates her even more.”
Alongside Lucia on the scoring front are seniors Ilana and Marlee Watson, both all-state selections this season, who are 2/3 of Bloomfield Hills’ triplet attack with sophomore Adia Watson.
Marlee, who was sidelined with an injury last season, is a skilled defender to go along with her 35 goals this year, leading the team in caused turnovers. Ilana, on the other hand, is your floor general, dishing out 54 assists this season to go along with her impressive 56 goals.
With that kind of firepower, it’s no secret as to why Bloomfield Hills’ offense is averaging 14 goals per game and 13 games of 15 or more goals.
When the team isn’t exhausting opponents with a barrage of scoring, the defensive unit is as tough as they come, allowing seven goals per game this season behind three-time all-State goalkeeper and junior captain Sydney Butler.
Butler has locked down the goalkeeping position since stepping foot onto Bloomfield Hills, and she’s got a crew of all-State defenders beside her in juniors Abigayle Agbay and Aubrey Agbay, who are 2/3 of a triplets set, as well as senior Avery Lynch and senior Claire Rubel.
On the defensive front, no one made more of an improvement than Rubel, who went from a role player in 2022 to an all-State honorable mention this season.
“She’s just kicked it off this year like she was the starter three years ago as a freshman,” Arens said.
So yes, this isn’t the same team Brighton has faced the past two years, and Bloomfield Hills showed that earlier this season when the team went toe-to-toe with Brighton April 15 at Birmingham Groves High School in the East vs. West Tournament.
While Bloomfield Hills controlled the majority of the game, it was mental mistakes that Arens said still set the team apart from reaching their full potential.
“Our biggest issue within the last two years, and even when we played them in the tournament in the spring, was not necessarily to do with our skill level,” Arens said. “We had a little bit, especially in the game this year, where we had mental lapses on the offensive end. We would just throw the ball away with unforced turnovers, and that kills momentum.”
As Bloomfield Hills goes to battle once more with Brighton, you can bet that they’re more prepared and confident than they’ve ever been.
With balance on both sides of the ball and the team playing the way they are, Butler said there’s no excuses to make this season.
“This is the group this year,” Butler said. “This is the group we know can make it far. Next year, it’ll be different without the seniors, but this is the group we want to take it to the next level with. I think we all know that if it’s going to happen, it’s going to be this year.”