Story So Far: Farmington Varsity Soccer Teams

Farmington Falcons Varsity Boys Soccer Team

Head Coach: Luke Juncaj

Record (as of Sept. 15): 6-1-3; (4-1-1 OAA White)

Last Year’s Finish: 13-5-3 (Playoffs: Lost 1-0 to Livonia Stevenson in second round)

Biggest Win This Season: 2-0 victory over Berkley on September 14.

“It was a league game for us, we played an excellent game and we were able to shut out a really good team,” Juncaj said. “That gave us the best record in the league after the first round of (division) games.” 

Biggest Upcoming Game: The Falcons play each of their OAA White foes two times. The second time through the division starts this week and the biggest games they play are against Andover, Avondale and Berkley.  

Strengths: The team’s talent level is its biggest asset. Farmington has a lot of great players this season and the group has been able to create scoring chances in every game. 

Key Players: Brent Winkler (Jr. Midfielder, forward), Andy Hill (Sr. Forward), Donald Pain (Jr. Forward)

Challenges: Finding some more consistency in different areas of the game is going to be the key for the Falcons in the second half of the season.

“We really we aren’t very consistent, in some games it was the defense that did well, in other games we finished really well,” Juncaj said. “So we’ve had a hard time putting everything together and having a complete game where we had balance.” 

Bottom Line: Coach Juncaj has been coaching the boys team for 21 seasons and he said this could be the best one he’s coached in a decade. 

“This is probably the best team we’ve had in nine, ten years. It’s definitely a solid squad,” Juncaj said. “We have a lot of talent, lot of skill. If we can play with more determination, with the skill we have, I think we can play with anybody.”

North Farmington Raiders Varsity Boys Soccer Team

Head Coach: Michael Horner

Record (as of Sept. 15): 0-6-2 (0-5-1 OAA White)

Last Year’s Finish: 14-3-1 (Playoffs: Lost 2-0 to Detroit Catholic Central in second round)

Biggest Game This Season: The Raiders played Troy, the top-ranked team in the state, on Sept. 14 and kept the game within one goal until the final minutes. They lost 2-0, but put together a fantastic effort.

“We played them toe-to-toe the whole game,” Horner said. “We are playing very good soccer, but we just can’t seem to score.”

Biggest Upcoming Game: North Farmington heads to rival Farmington on Tuesday for a game at 7 p.m. The teams played to a 1-1 tie early in the season and Horner’s team is ready of the rematch.

“I know the boys will be up to play, the first (divisional) game of the season we tied them and the boys are looking forward to a second shot at them,” he said.

Strengths: Defense, defense, defense. The Raiders haven’t been losing games by a bunch of lopsided scores. It’s been a lot of 1-0 and 2-0 games this season. Horner called the defense excellent so far this season and the ball movement to get the ball out of their zone has been equally solid.

Key Players: Kyle Kansman (Jr. defender), Jake Bur (Sr. midfielder) Ronnie Bason (Jr. midfielder) 

Challenges: Last year, North Farmington scored 45 goals, all but six of those goals graduated. The Raiders won the division last year, but 11 seniors graduated and eight of those were starters. Horner has a young and inexperienced group, especially up front.

“We’ve outplayed some teams, but just haven’t been able to score,” Horner said. “I think the most difficult task in soccer is to create scorers.” 

Bottom Line: “We’ve got six seniors, but only three of them are starting,” Horner said. “We’re going to have a lot of starters back next season, they’ve got some good games under their belt this year and I think we are going to be a much more poised team.”

Farmington Hills Harrison Varsity Boys Soccer Team

Head Coach: Tim Russell

Record (as of Sept. 15): 5-1-1 (3-1 OAA Blue)

Last Year’s Finish: 4-13-0 (Playoffs: Lost 5-0 to Brother Rice in second round)

Biggest Game This Season: Monday’s 1-1 draw with Farmington was big for the Hawks as it kept their hopes of a city championship alive. The Falcons are also in the division above them, so it was one of the tougher games Harrison has on its schedule.

Biggest Upcoming Game: The Hawks welcome North Farmington on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. and that could be for the Farmington city championship.

“It’s fun because we’re rivals, but we are also so close,” Russell said. “We (the teams) play a lot together in the offseason.”

Strengths: Last year, Harrison lost 11 games in a row at one point. Players would try to do it all themselves and do too much, creating a lot of turnovers and mistakes. That’s not the case this season.

“We are playing a team game this year,” Russell said. “The players are following a team plan. In the past we’ve had some issues, where some players try to do it all themselves.”

Key Players: Ryan Haefner (Sr. forward); Trevor Kubitskey (Sr. goaltender)

Challenges: The fall weather hasn’t been kind to the Hawks schedule. 

They’ve had two games postponed to later in the season (Oxford and Seaholm) and one game cancelled (Avondale). The changes to the schedule has made it a little unbalanced.

“Because of some cancellations we haven’t played some of our better competition,” Russell said. “When you get used to playing competition that’s not as challenging you can loss your focus, you can loss your discipline. You can’t test yourself if you’re not given those challenges.”

Bottom Line: “We had a terrible record last year, but ended up winning four of our last six,” Russell said. “It’s more selflessness; it’s more distributing the ball and getting more people involved. It took us to the last few games of the season to get that going last year, and that’s where we got those victories, we are right there now.”