Troy City WFC Takes Care of Business to Set Up Championship Match vs Themselves

By Garrett Pog

I know the headline may be confusing or baffling to some, so let’s address that quickly.

The MPSL Women’s League Cup is an in-season tournament played by all participating teams during the MPSL season, in which Troy City lost in the opening round last year. This year, Troy has 2 teams in the MPSL, and both of those squads have won decisively in their matchups to set up a League Cup Championship between Troy City A and Troy City B. I’m curious as to who fans will root for.

Now that’s settled, let’s focus on how Troy City A made the championship by winning 4-1 against Lake St. Clair.

It was a humid evening in Evolution Sportsplex, as Troy City brought almost double as many players as Lake St. Clair did, so they were able to stay fresh for the entire game. Emerson Lukomski (Ferris State) expressed how important games like this are before they get into their fall season.

“It’s very helpful, especially because the fall is the hottest time of the year, conditioning in these games makes it a lot easier,” she said.

Making their Troy City debuts were Ashley Miller (Polk State), as well as Emily Mendrick (Ashland). Both players were teammates at Troy Athens High School where they won the Regional Championship in 2025. Mendrick was coming off a hamstring injury, which proved to have no negative effect on her throughout the evening.

As the match started, it was evident that Troy City would have the upper hand for the majority of the evening. The match was fast-paced from beginning to end, and Lydia Hill (Ball State) as well as Jessica Reyes (Hope) would lead the charge on many attacks through 15 minutes.

Through 27 minutes and the first water break, no goals were scored, as the GK from Lake St. Clair was a well-developed DII keeper and caught the ball well on direct strikes. Head Coach John Arndt remarked to his team, “[The goalkeeper] is going to gobble those shots up every time! You have to make her move side-to-side.” Almost on cue, Hill sent the ball towards center field in the box which Lukomski struck to take the lead.

“I felt comfortable, and our team played really well. It felt really good to play with this group,” Lukomski remarked afterwards. She’s typically a starter with the UWS team, and many of her Ferris State teammates share the field with her, unlike today. Despite playing with a group that’s much younger than her, Lukomski never felt lost on the field.

After some excellent defending from Morgan Bogacki (Saginaw Valley State), the substitute group came in and kept the pressure cooking in the attack zone. This ultimately culminated in Sabrina Gaul (Troy HS) passing from the right side to her former cross-town rival Mendrick, who made easy work of that goal to go up 2 before halftime.

This Troy City team started out in a lull in the second half, leading them to give up an all-too-easy goal in the 53rd minute. They came very close to switching the momentum and tying the score, before a head block from Bogacki sent it out for a corner, very reminiscent of her teammate Cecily Hughes’s (Lourdes) ability to use her head to brace for impact.

Troy City got back into a groove towards the end of the game, and the familiar Gaul-Mendrick combo connected once again to ensure the win, this time Gaul scoring. The whole-team subbed immediately after, which gave way for Madi Bonsall (Northern Michigan Commit) to receive an easy score from Lukomski as a cherry-on-top in the closing minutes.

“It was a great team performance where everyone got involved,” said Arndt after the game. “We spread the wealth around, and I’m very happy we have a final with two Troy City teams involved.”

The Troy City Derby date is yet to be determined, but Arndt is cautioning folks from believing that they’re the team to beat in the MPSL.

“It was a good battle today, and there’s a lot of games [in this league] that are competitive where it’s a one-goal difference. Sure, we give up some of the strangest goals, but we’d be a lot better if we can clean some of those things up.”

MPSL action will continue for Troy City this weekend when they play Pinnacle on Friday, June 27th, 8 pm at Avondale HS, followed by a Sunday night game at TOCA Wixom vs the Michigan Jaguars, June 29th at 7 pm.