UP high schools eligible to participate in state soccer tournaments once again
The change will go into effect this school year, starting with the boys’ season in the fall and followed by the girls’ season next spring.
MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - A monumental change is coming to Upper Peninsula high school soccer this year. On Wednesday, a federal court approved a joint request by the group “Communities for Equity” and the MHSAA to allow U.P. high schools to participate in the boys’ and girls’ state soccer tournaments.
Marquette athletic director Alex Tiseo serves on the MHSAA Representative Council, and he said getting the change approved was a years-long process.
“This was quite a bit of back and forth that was several years’ worth of dialogue... explaining the situation and how detrimental to U.P. soccer this has been over this 17-year period,” Tiseo said.
The five school-affiliated soccer programs in the U.P. have been left out of the state tournament since 2006, a result of a Title IX lawsuit that forced several high school sports to change seasons.
The MHSAA allowed U.P. schools to continue sponsoring soccer, provided that they held their own postseason tournament.
“That was something that the U.P. schools sponsoring soccer agreed to do just because by changing seasons, they would have nobody left to play,” Tiseo said.
Tiseo, a former high school soccer player himself, is hopeful that the change will help grow the sport in this area.
“I think what we’re going to see hopefully is a little bit of boom in that area where there’s going to be a push within some other communities to get school affiliated teams, knowing that these student athletes are going to have the opportunity to go downstate and compete in the MHSAA tournament,” he said.
That’s also exactly what excites current high school soccer players about the new format.
“When I was growing up, I was friends with a lot of older people, and they all played soccer and never made it to the state tournament because they couldn’t,” Marquette boys’ soccer captain Indigo Catalano said. “Now I have an opportunity to play in it and make my family and friends proud, so I’m excited.”
The change will go into effect this school year, starting with the boys’ season in the fall and followed by the girls’ season next spring.
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