On Saturday November 16th Jesuit Women’s soccer lined up against an undefeated, defending state champion Grant team. The two teams faced each other back in September during preseason where Grant struck early and often. The Generals were dangerous around goal in this game, converting on an early free kick and following up with two more goals in the first half. Grant ended up beating Jesuit 5-1 causing a major wake up call for a young Jesuit team.
After this game Jesuit went undefeated the rest of the season, scoring 73 goals and only allowing 4 goals against in the 14 games after this leading up to the state championship game. Jesuit came into the state championship game on Saturday ranked number 1 despite being somewhat underdogs due to losing to Grant in early September.
Both teams came out strong on Saturday battling for the first 16 minutes before Natalie Webber scored off of a corner from kick Ana Kubiaczyk. Striking first seemed to give the Jesuit team confidence, leading to Jesuit being first to many 50-50 balls and stringing passes together that they seemed to lack in early September. Player of the game Ana Kubiaczyk scored shortly after her assist to Webber putting Jesuit up 2-0 at half, giving the crusaders a sense of confidence going into the locker room.
“I was super stressed before the game because I realized I forgot my cleats back at Jesuit. However my parents were able to get them to me, and I was able to change into them before kick off. Even though it wasn’t the warm up I imagined for a state final I ended up scoring a goal and assisting Nat” Kubiaczyk said.
Coming out in the second half Grant looked to battle back, however sister center back duo Sophia and Eva Stiles, as well as Jo Frischknet and Ellie Covington held the Generals to only three shots all game. After a scramble by Grant in the last ten minutes, Paige Nakada was able to put one on the board for the Generals. Both teams fought to the final whistle ending in a 2-1 win for the Crusaders.
“As the season progressed our defenders learned more about how each individual played and we learned how to work together to create a cohesive unit. Also as a whole team we learned to defend all together rather than individually,” Stiles said.
This win marked the 16th state championship title for the Jesuit program. As well this win became coach Steve Fennah’s 11th championship win making him 11-0 in the finals. After a difficult start to the year this season meant a lot, to the Crusaders especially to the seniors beating Forest Grove, Beaverton, West Linn, and Grant.
“This season meant a lot to us as seniors because we were able to prove ourselves against teams that have beaten us in the past,” senior Claudia Rose said.
