By Crystal Hayduk
It wasn’t all business as usual at the Chelsea school board meeting on Nov. 18, as Athletic Director Matt Cunningham introduced the 2024 Division 2 State Champion Chelsea Field Hockey Team. (Only some members of the team were able to attend the meeting due to scheduling conflicts.)
He said the women played in what was “arguably the toughest division in the state” because the last two division finals featured all-SEC schools.
In addition, the Bulldogs had their first victory in the team’s history against Ann Arbor Pioneer during the regular season. It was the only loss for Pioneer, which went on to earn the Division 1 state title.
The Bulldogs won the state championship 1-0 defeating the defending state champs, Dexter High School, on Oct. 26.
Cunningham’s presentation to the board included a long and impressive list of honors and awards earned by the team as a whole as well as individual players. He also thanked the community and families for their tremendous support.
Leslie Fry, who has coached the team for 20 years and currently coaches as a team with her daughters Casey Fry and Corey Block, told the BOE the team worked hard and coped with a great deal of adversity this season as they worked together to meet goals. Their mantra was “control the controllables.”
Kapolka said CSD is proud of the team, not only for earning the title, but also for how the players conducted themselves.
The full field hockey presentation runs from time stamp 8:00-14:04 in the video recording of the school board meeting, which is available to view here.
