TROY – The Troy Athens Red Hawks remained unbeaten with a 1-0 win over the Rochester Hills Stoney Creek Cougars on Monday night in Oakland Activities Association Red Division play.

The Red Hawks dominated possession, especially in the first half. Athens was able to consistently recycle the ball, but for all their time with it, they managed a half-dozen corner kicks but no goals.

Athens finally broke through early in the second half when Emily Mendrick’s cross found Lulu Thaqi at the back post, and Thaqi bundled the ball over the line just under five minutes into the second half.

“We’re stressing possession, and it’s still early in the season, and we’re trying to find goalscorers,” new Athens head coach Jason Clark said. “We’re getting goals from different people, and I think that’s the important part is that they’ve all bought into the system, and they’re seeing opportunities being spread across – all of our front three have been phenomenal,” he added.

Stoney Creek at Troy Athens girls soccer photo gallery

That was the only goal they could muster against a tough Stoney Creek defense anchored by Delany Batur and center backs Tigi Maio and Ryan Hakala.

“I thought defensively we were stout. We were strong. I was proud of the two center backs for growing at this point,” Cougars head coach Bryan Mittelstadt said. “They stayed organized. I thought the girls did what we expected. We just didn’t get on the end of anything.”

Stoney Creek's Sarina Shah (2) holds off Troy Athens' Hannah Dombrowski (14) during the OAA Red match-up played on Monday, April 15, 2024 at Athens High School. The Cougars lost to the Red Hawks 1-0. (KEN SWART - For MediaNews Group)

Overall, Stoney Creek had very little offense themselves, though they created a few opportunities after halftime and started buzzing around the Troy Athens box a bit.

“We just didn’t connect in that final third to the right player. We’ve just got to be a little bit wiser in our decision making and recognize what was going on,” Mittelstadt said.

Still, they managed just one shot on goal for the game against a stingy Athens defense anchored by senior Nichole Russell that has been nearly perfect so far this year, allowing just one goal in their first seven games.

“Our back line and our goalie have been phenomenal so far this season. We’ve given up one goal so far this season, and they took that one goal personally. They’ve gotten themselves organized, and I can’t be more proud of the leadership from Nicloe in the back,” Clark said.

With the win, Troy Athens improves to 5-0-2 overall and 2-0 in OAA Red under new coach Jason Clark who came over from West Bloomfield in the offseason to coach his alma mater. Despite still in the learning phase, the team is quickly coming together.

“It’s nice to be back home, and it’s the girls. It’s the kids. It’s the program. It’s the tradition,” Clark said. “It’s just a piece of who we are. We’ve always said from Day 1 that we’re not changing anything. We’re not going to come in and change anything that has been working. We’re just going to put our stamp on it and do it our way. The girls have bought in, and I couldn’t be more happy with the kids and the program, and where we’re at right now.”

The Red Hawks face Grand Blanc on Thursday in a non-league matchup.

Stoney Creek is 2-2-2 overall and 1-2 in OAA Red as they retool after graduating most of the starters from last year.

“I thought the game had intensity to it. I thought it felt like an OAA Red game where both teams were squaring off a little bit,” Mittelstadt said. “I thought we maintained it. I thought we played well. I thought we did some things good. We’ve just got to get better.” He added that, “The most important thing is you want your team to play hard, and I thought our kids played hard, on the road, at Athens. That’s not easy to do.”