Traverse City West tops Grand Haven, 2-1, to win 7th annual Labor Day Showcase

Sep. 2—TRAVERSE CITY — Make that two out of the last three for Traverse City West.

With their 2-1 comeback victory against Grand Haven on Saturday, the Titans' varsity boys soccer team moved to 5-0-1 and won the 7th annual Labor Day Showcase. The Titans' home tournament, which previously attracted teams from downstate as well as Cleveland and Toledo, featured West along with the Buccaneers, Midland Dow and Traverse City Christian.

"We weren't sure what the result would be when we started this back in 2017," West head coach Matt Griesinger said. "The idea was to bring out-of-state teams up here and give them an opportunity to enjoy northern Michigan and show off what we have."

West won on goals from Dougie Rice and Aidan Orth with an assist from Ben Carlson. Trapper Holmes had three saves in the win. The Titans begin Big North Conference action Thursday with a home tilt against Alpena.

The Sabres fell 8-2 to Dow on Saturday. Julian Ahluwalia and James Thuente each notched a goal with Liam Donnell assisting on both scores for TC Christian. The Sabres fall to 1-3-2 and head to Leland on Thursday.

"I'm really, really proud of both what West and TC Christian were able to showcase," Griesinger said. "Those are four tough soccer games that happened this weekend."

The tournament win was the first for West since 2021 and just their second in the seven-year history of the showcase.

The Titans' game-winning goal came on a quick throw-in around midfield that Carlson got to Orth. Orth then went on about a 30-yard mazy run that saw him beat four or five Buccaneers before firing off his shot and putting the Titans up 2-1 in the 65th minute.

"It was a good goal," Griesinger said.

The showcase was one of the few places where high school sports were happening in Michigan on Saturday. In fact, the two games accounted for 33 percent of prep sports in the state along with four football games.

"The biggest thing is showcasing northern Michigan and northern Michigan soccer," Griesinger said. "We try to make it as much of a family atmosphere as we can."

That includes all of the players getting free tournament t-shirts and a dinner on Friday night.

"It's just a cool way to jump into the school year," Griesinger said. "Some schools have already started, but everyone will start on Tuesday. It's a really good way to welcome in the grind that becomes the conference season, and it's one last opportunity for people to enjoy northern Michigan and go to the dunes between games."

Griesinger expects to continue the Labor Day Showcase into its eighth year in 2024.

"This thing's not going away," he said. "There's already talk about what color the Labor Day shirt is going to be next year and what the design is going to be. It's always a blast, and it's a really good thing for northern Michigan soccer. We're definitely not getting rid of it."

Griesinger said he saw a cohesive West team that fought through adversity by coming back to win two games in which they trailed 1-0.

"The grind of the Big North Conference will show me more. Those are emotional, passion-filled games," he said. "I don't love falling behind and having to come back. It's not something I necessarily want to be proud of, but I'm certainly proud of the boys for having that resiliency."

The start of the conference season means the start of pursuing one of the program's three yearly goals — win the conference, win the district, win the region.

"To win the district is two games, maybe three games. Two win the region, it's two games," Griesinger said. "But to win the conference, it's a 10-game-long piece. So I'm hoping to see patience out of my guys."

Patience, Griesinger said, is something that has to be learned and mastered in high school soccer.

"Teams want to score on every possession, and they think every time they touch the ball they should score. But that's just not the nature of soccer," Griesinger said. "We just want to have that patience going forward and trusting the process.

"The conference is going to be honing in our style and really taking care of the moments that come to us."