HARTLAND — Regardless of the outcome, Hartland and Brighton should be battle-tested heading into the state girls soccer tournament after their classic battle Friday night.
Not only did they get to play three competitive KLAA tournament games under the league’s new end-of-season format, but they took each other to a shootout before Hartland prevailed, 3-2.
The Eagles had to come back twice to tie the game in regulation time, with freshman Elise L’Esperance scoring late in the second half to force a shootout. The KLAA chose to decide games with shootouts without first playing two 10-minute overtimes as is customary in the MHSAA state tournament.