Lake Orion starts the season 3-0
By Jim Newell
Managing Editor
jnewell@mihomepaper.com
OXFORD TWP. — It’s always a big rivalry when Lake Orion plays Oxford and the Lake Orion varsity girls soccer team struck quickly to defeat Oxford 3-0 on April 1, and have started the season 3-0.
The Dragons then defeated Cranbrook Kingsbury 4-0 on April 3. Over the first three games Lake Orion has outscored their opponents 11-1.

Against Oxford, Lake Orion freshman Kendall Jakubiak scored the first goal of the game – and the eventual game-winner – off a corner kick with 19:32 to play in the first half. Lake Orion crossed the ball into the goal box and Jakubiak received the ball and slotted it to the left of the Oxford goalie to put the Dragons up 1-0.
Junior Lilly Brodoski netted Lake Orion’s second goal with 8:15 left in the half. Senior Dylan Verlinden took a shot on goal that was blocked and Brodoski crashed the net to get the rebound and dribble around the goalie to put the Dragons up 2-0.
Sophomore Mary Graves scored the Dragons third goal with 2:01 left in the first half.
Senior goalie Kylie Kopitzki got the shutout for Lake Orion. Kopitzki did not face a lot of pressure from the Oxford offense but made a few big saves when needed, including a breakaway by the Wildcats with just over 34 minutes left in the game when she came out the net, charged the Oxford forward and made a sliding stop around the 16-yard line.
Last year, Lake Orion lost to Oxford in the regular season and then beat the Wildcats 6-5 in overtime in the district semifinals.
“Considering how we ended against them last year, they probably wanted to get a little revenge. So, I told the girls, hey they’re probably going to have a little chip on the shoulder,” head coach Amanda Hutchinson said. “What I thought was kind of cool is that those three goals didn’t come from our traditional goal scorers. That made me feel good that we can rely on other people. Knowing that we can get goals from multiple people on the team from multiple positions made me feel good.”
Hutchinson said this year’s team is loaded with experience – five players have been on the team since their freshmen year and core group of starters are returning from last season – and are optimistic about the season.
“We’re really excited about the season. We only lost two seniors last year so returning 16 (players). We did pretty well last year so we have that core coming back, and then we added five good players at tryouts. So, I’m really excited about our potential this year,” Hutchinson said. “We added good players and I think our team has the potential to be even better than the team last year. When you have 16 returning players with varsity experience, that’s a good thing.”
Winning the OAA White division is always a goal for the Dragons, as is competing for a district championship. The Dragons won the district title in 2022, lost in the second round of districts in 2023 and won another district title in 2024 and hope to repeat this year.
“We’ve talked a lot about we want to make some history. The Lake Orion girls soccer team has never won regionals. So, we talked about we want to make history this year, we want to be the first team to do that,” Hutchinson said. “If we stay healthy and we continue to keep our minds on the team’s goals and play as a team then I think it’s an achievable goal.”
Another strength of this year’s Dragons is team cohesiveness – the players all seem to get along, support one another and enjoying playing together.
“I think that’s something for me as a coach that’s really important because I’ve seen it go the other way too. I’ve seen teams that have a lot of potential but they didn’t have that cohesiveness, they didn’t want to trust the coach and I’ve seen them fall short of where they could have gone,” Hutchinson said. “They’re not just players. They’re students in our building, they have other things going on in their lives, so you have to focus on those things too, you can’t just focus on them as soccer players.”
Hutchinson said there are several players the Dragons are looking to this season to help lead and guide the team. Seniors Addison Verlinden and Kiera West and junior Lilly Brodoski are team captains this year. Dylan Verlinden was Lake Orion’s top scorer last year and scored two goals in the season opener against Lapeer.
“I think they’re going to be really good at leading us and sort of keeping us together and keeping us mindful of our goals and what we need to do to achieve them,” Hutchinson said. “Dylan Verlinden, I’m really counting on her to help bring us the goals. Then we added senior Sydney Goodman, this is her first year playing for us, and I think she’s really going to help us in terms of creating and scoring goals.”
Kopitzki is a four-year starter for the Dragons in goal and her experience will help the Dragons as they face tougher opponents with strong offenses.
“She’s been there; she’s been a part of teams that have won two district titles already. She’s played in regional games. I think this year she’s in a good spot in terms of her focus, so that comes up big for us,” Hutchinson said.
Two of the Dragons’ starting defenders were injured to begin the season, so Lake Orion brought in junior Brooke Armstrong to play in the center back position. “She has really come in clutch for us to start the first two games of the season,” Hutchinson said.
Lake Orion was scheduled to play Groves High School on Tuesday after Review press time. The next home game is 7:15 p.m. April 15 against Berkley High School.