BEVERLY HILLS >> Nearly a whole calendar year ago, the Detroit Country Day girls’ soccer team saw their season end with a 1-0 loss vs Grosse Ile in a thrilling Division 3 state semifinals matchup.

Fast forward to Tuesday and the first meeting between the two schools since then. This time around, it was No. 1 vs No. 2 in a regional semifinal matchup hosted by Country Day.

After losing in the manner that they did, Country Day head coach Laura Hamway said you can only take so much away from an X’s and O’s standpoint. That 2024 affair did, however, become a driving point for Hamway’s crew.

“It was a stalemate,” Hamway said. “When you go to double overtime and a shootout and you lose by a shot, it can go either way. To me, today was driven more by emotion, and you could feel it on the field.”

In what felt like, to many, a state championship game on Tuesday, Country Day did not let history repeat itself, at least not against them.

With a 2-0 victory, the No. 2-ranked Yellowjackets extended their postseason for at least one more day while subsequently ending the season of the top-ranked Devils from Grosse Ile.

What pleased Hamway most with her team on Tuesday can be summarized in one word: fight.

“When you lose the way they lost last year, and you return the majority of those players, there is a drive,” Hamway said. “They put the work in during the preseason. This is probably the most leader-led team I’ve ever had where I can be more hands-off.

“Hats off to Grosse Ile, it was a great game,” Hamway continued. “They felt that same feeling last year and that is part of playoff soccer. To be on the other side of this now, it’s awesome.”

That fight and drive from Country was evident from the opening whistle, needing less than five minutes to score the de facto game-winning goal.

A scramble for a loose ball in front of the net, coupled with perhaps some miscommunication on the side of Grosse Ile, allowed for Georgia Hopkins to hammer one past Devils’ goalkeeper Monica Arndt, putting the Jackets up 1-0.

Country Day, who donned their white jerseys as the game’s official visitors on Tuesday, continued to have the field tilted in their favor through the early stages of the first half before Grosse Ile finally began to level it.

The islanders were able to generate a handful of opportunities over about a six-minute stretch beginning in the 21st minute, however it was nothing sustained to the levels Country Day had to open the game.

Head coach Jon Evans anticipated it being a tough go trying to generate any sort of chances.

“We needed to be a little more patient up front,” Evans said. “We needed to keep the ball more and not just play forward and behind. There was not a lot of space to work with.

“We knew it was going to be tough.”

Evans highlighted the play of the Country Day back line to further describe his team’s inability to create chances, much less consistent ones. Including Tuesday’s final result, the Yellowjackets have held opponents to one goal or less in all but three of their games played this spring.

It became even more of an uphill battle for Grosse Ile when the hosts doubled their lead at again around the five-minute mark to begin the second half.

After taking the ball deep into the corner, Naima Safiedine delivered a cross-field through ball on net. The shot was initially stopped by not corraled by Arndt. That allowed for Isabella Schimizzi to collect the rebound and slip it in for the insurance score.

Play continued on, largely between the 30’s for the better part of the second half. Even with their lead, Hamway was cognizant to not have her team fully take their foot off the gas.

“2-0 is still a dangerous lead in soccer,” Hamway said. “We never, at any point, were sitting back and feeling safe. But you can take a little bit of a breath knowing things that we have worked on are playing out and working.”

Each team was able to garner some scoring opportunities on set pieces down the stretch, whether it be on corners or free kicks, but the 2-0 score held true all the way to the end.

“I think (Country Day) just came out with a lot of urgency,” Evans said. “They did a lot of the little things that maybe we took too many breaks on. We didn’t get on the end of some second balls and they had some bounces go their way. That changes the game between arguably the two best teams in the state of Michigan.”

“We had some good moments late in the first half and a little bit in the second half,” Evans added. “We just were unable to consistently get the ball to the feet of our forwards.”

The loss is an earlier-than-anticipated playoff exit for Grosse Ile (13-5-2), who is seeing eight seniors graduate and move on.

It’s a Class of 2025 for the folks from the island that claimed a pair of regional titles in 2023 and ’24 — after the program previously not won one since 2016 — that eventually led to two state championship game appearances.

“From a senior class perspective, they’ve made their footprint on the program,” Evans said. “They’ve set a new standard. It’s going to be tough to get back there but it is a standard that now needs to be continuously met.”

Country Day (10-5-2), they will return its home pitch on Thursday to battle Warren Regina for a D3 regional title. Regina in the first semifinal on Tuesday pitched a 1-0 shootout.