By: Jonathan Szczepaniak | Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle | Published January 11, 2023
BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Solidifying their position as one of the greatest Bloomfield Hills athletic teams in school history, the high school thought it only right to get the band back together to rejoice in the memory of their championship-winning season.
Bloomfield Hills High School honored the 2022 Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 State Championship girls soccer team in front of faculty and family members Dec. 19 at the school.
As players opened the boxes placed in front of them at their seats, their eyes lit with excitement seeing their very own championship rings, which were customized by Jostens.
Inscribed on the rings, which were designed by the five senior captains, is “One team, one dream, can’t lose,” a phrase coined by the captains and repeated by the team throughout the season. It was in honor of the perseverance Bloomfield Hills showed throughout the year.
Faculty members and Bloomfield Hills head coach Alan Zakaria took to the podium to speak to the team and attendees during the ceremony.
“When we met our returning players, we told them to dream big,” Zakaria said during his speech. “We knew that going into the offseason and going into the season that this could be our special year.”
Players and coaches watched the video board as a season highlights compilation played. There was a heavy mix of laughter and tears from the players as their season in review played out, especially from the now-graduated seniors, who reunited with their old teammates at the ceremony.
“It’s kind of crazy, obviously, coming back to high school and then being back with my team,” Ava Badallo said. “It (the championship game) was literally one of the best days of my life. Just seeing them again is really surreal.”
Badallo, now playing for West Virginia Wesleyan College, whose game-winning penalty kick over Northville was shown in the season highlights, was able to reconnect with the members of Bloomfield Hills soccer’s other “Fab-Five”: Drew Martin, Alice Spiegel, Esther Rosett and Emma Merchant.
“It starts with our Fab-Five, our five seniors who were also captains,” Zakaria said. “They really believed, and they were hungry.”
Badallo’s game-winning kick was arguably the greatest moment for Bloomfield Hills in a season where every game seemed to have a highlight, and Badallo said she still reminisces about that moment.
“I was talking to one of my teammates about it, Drew (Martin), and we always text about it,” Badallo said. “We think about winning states and that day just so often, but especially not even just the game and the goal that we had, but everything, like the penalties we had and the adrenaline. Just knowing that you had to make it and the adrenaline, and as my coach, Tristan, said, I remember being so worked up about it, and he was like, ‘Trust yourself, don’t doubt yourself, and just pick a corner and go with it.’ I feel like it all happened so fast.”
Giving Badallo’s game-winning goal moment a run for its money was sophomore goaltender Jenica Opdahl, a first team all-state selection last season.
In order to set up Badallo for the game-clinching goal, Opdahl said her memorable moment of the season took place during the championship game as well.
“The PK shootout, definitely,” Opdahl said. “When I made that first save, my confidence was boosted a lot. When Ava scored the winning goal, I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited.”
Special doesn’t begin to describe the season Bloomfield Hills had in 2022, as a 2-2-1 start to the season would only set up an inspiring underdog story for the rest of the year.
With 13-straight wins to close out the season, including a 2-1 win over No. 1 ranked Northville in the MHSAA State Finals, a team that had failed to make it past the regional championship game was now state champions at last.
Bloomfield Hills’ road to the state finals included the school’s first-ever regional championship over defending Division 1 State Champion Hartland, and the school’s first district championship since the 2018-2019 season.
“This is not unexpected when you see what we have here and these talented individuals and, obviously, the program that we have here,” Zakaria said. “This was not an unexpected state championship.”
With an added year of experience, Opdahl and senior Avary Hall, an all-state honorable mention last season, will be key leaders for Bloomfield Hills this season as they look to become repeat champions.
“I’d say we have a lot more confidence, but we’re still going to go into the season super pumped up and ready to continue fighting to win another state championship,” Opdahl said.