It’s hard to find a coach that did a better coaching job this spring than Lamphere’s Skip Mukhtar, who led the Rams to their first district and regional championships. In Mukhtar’s first three seasons, Lamphere only lost a grand total of 15 games during the stretch, while putting his team in very good position for the next few years.
In the playoffs, Mukhtar decided to turn to senior defender Marissa Knorp to be his team’s keeper going forward. Knorp had only played in net twice during the regular season after missing the first half of the year because of injury. The decision by Mukhtar turned out to be brilliant. Knorp, who started every game except for the district final, didn’t allow a single goal in until the semifinal game.
Also deserving of consideration is Birmingham Detroit Country Day’s Bob Bukari who admittedly was somewhat surprised at how well his team played this year. With six freshmen playing sizable roles all season, the Yellowjackets managed to also make an appearance in the state semifinals.
Bukari got huge production out of freshmen Michelle Manning and Arlyn Reed all season long, Manning at every turn seemed to be the most dangerous threat on the field, while Reed was as good as anybody defensively, often shutting down some of the state’s best.
Both of these team’s should be among the state’s top teams for the next few years, with Lamphere returning a talented sophomore class headlined by division 2 second team all-state defender Chelsea Thompson, and third team all-state midfielder Brianna Smith. Country Day, will only be losing three seniors while bringing back six freshmen and a number of sophomores and juniors.
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