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BEARING DOWN

Berkley senior Kirkwood strikes twice to beat Royal Oak for district title

Berkley’s Hailey Kirkwood, right, shoots and scores the first of her two goals to lead the Bears to a 2-0 win over Royal Oak in the D1 district final played on Friday at Hurley Field. The Bears advance to next week’s regional at Rochester. PHOTOS BY KEN SWART — FOR MEDIANEWS GROUP

Royal Oak’s Alexis Zimny (9) holds off Berkley’s Nora Sleeman (11) during the D1 district championship played on Friday at Hurley Field. The Ravens lost to the Bears 2-0.

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By Michael J Wallwork

For MediaNews Group

BERKLEY >> Senior captain Hailey Kirkwood scored twice and the Berkley Bears claimed their first district title since 2019 with a 2-0 victory over the Royal Oak Ravens on Friday night.

“It feels great. This is a game I’ll never forget with some of my favorite people,” Kirkwood said. “The script couldn’t have been written better.”

The Bears scored quickly with Nora Sleeman laying off a ball in the box for Kirkwood, who quickly poked the ball through traffic and into the net, giving Berkley a 1-0 lead just 4:25 into the game.

Berkley went on to dominate the first half, controlling the play and piling up chances. Royal Oak goalie Kayla Faulkner turned in a fine first half, stopping multiple breakaways and making another save at point -blank range to keep the game close.

But eventually, Berkley just had too many clean chances. Kirkwood got loose on another breakaway late in the half and slotted a ball home to give the Bears a two-goal advantage heading into the break.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Ravens head coach Melissa VanGorden said. “I think there is always something to be said about a rivalry game and nerves and trying to get your feet settled and that calm. And I think it took us a little to get started on that. We came out right from the get-go. We had chances right at the start of the game, and you could see us deflate a little bit.”

Royal Oak was much better in the second half. The Ravens offense got going, and Royal Oak had the better of the ball and the stat sheet in the second half, generating more total shots and more set pieces than Berkley over the second forty minutes. But unlike the Bears in the first half, Royal Oak was unable to convert their statistical advantage into goals, though they came close a few times. Eventually, time simply ran out on Royal Oak, who kept the pressure on until the end, even hitting the right goal post with about nine minutes to play.

Both teams required more time than regulation offered to reach Friday’s district final. Berkley, who lost 1-0 on the road to Royal Oak on May 8, defeated Groves 1-0 on Wednesday. The Ravens also went to overtime at Hurley Field on Wednesday before requiring a shootout to eliminate Seaholm.

With Friday’s win, Berkley improves to 11-4-5 and advances to the regional semifinals next week, which will be hosted by Rochester High School. The Bears will play Macomb Dakota on Tuesday.

“It’s pretty special,” Kirkwood said. “We want to keep the show going as long as we can, and whatever happens, happens. But we’re definitely going to work our hardest.”

Royal Oak finishes the year 7-10-3.

“The future is bright. We’ve got a lot of really talented players coming through, and I just really appreciate all the dedication from the seniors who have put in the work,” VanGorden said.