Below, we preview the North Carolina High School Athletic Association girls soccer state championship with storylines to remember, fun facts, rankings of the best players, and a revisit of our own predictions and rankings.
Friday
7 p.m. — 4A Championship: Marvin Ridge (14-4-5) vs Ashley (23-0-2).
Saturday
11 a.m. — 1A Championship: Christ the King (18-3) vs Woods Charter (22-4-1)
2:30 p.m. — 3A Championship: South Point (18-2-2) vs. Jacksonville (20-1-4)
6 p.m. — 2A Championship: Seaforth (24-1-1) vs Pine Lake Prep (20-1-1).
Stories to Know
The Road to Matthews: For the first time, the NCHSAA Championships will be held at the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex in Matthews. Football titles have come and gone quite a bit over the past decade. NC State was a good venue in terms of atmosphere and parking, but had trouble containing the crowd when one game was late and a few fans from the next game were packed in. Coke Booth Field in Cary was a great field, but the atmosphere was terrible and the parking and seating situation could have been better. McPherson Stadium in Bryan Park was great in terms of parking and atmosphere, but the facilities and field left a lot to be desired. UNC-Greensboro's stadium has been the stadium that best combines all of these elements so far. Hopefully this new venue will live up to the quest to find the right place. Most notably, it has been the site of several big high school football showdowns between Butler and Independence.
Big day for 704: Not only will the Charlotte metro area be hosting an NCHSAA championship (in any sport) for the first time in decades, but all four games will feature teams from counties bordering Mecklenburg: Pine Lake Prep (Iredell County), Christ the King (Cabarrus County), Marvin Ridge (Union County) and South Point (Gaston County). No charter buses needed. It's safe to expect some state championship games to be played in the state's largest city. This could be the start of a new era.
Motivation: More on that later, but there are some highly motivated teams at this year's state championships. Christ the King is looking to win its third straight championship. Woods Charter is looking to avoid a third straight runner-up finish. Pine Lake Prep broke through in the West Regional Final, beating two-time Western Champion Wheatmore. Seaforth broke through in its first year with seniors. South Pointe is back in the finals after losing a year ago. Same for Ashley. Jacksonville was looking to avenge last year's loss in the regional final, as was Pine Lake Prep (though they lost to Eastern Alamance last year and beat Western Alamance this time around).
Three U17 national team players on one pitch: Scrolling down the player list, we see that three players from two schools representing three different countries are on the U17 national team.
Unique Achievements and Fun Facts
- This will be the first time in NCHSAA history that the two teams will meet three times in a row in the girls soccer championship game. By my count, the two teams have met three times in four years at least twice, but never three in a row. Christ the King beat Woods Charter 3-0 in 2022 (a game in which Woods famously didn't have a single shot on goal) and won 1-0 last year after having to finish the game on a Sunday because of lightning in the area.
- Ashley hopes to continue the trend of a 4A team going from runner-up to champion in 365 days (with some margin of error). This trend has been pretty consistent since 2012, when Green Hope finished runner-up to Huff. Green Hope bounced back and won the 2013 title. Panther Creek followed suit, finishing runner-up in 2014 and winning in 2015. Providence then parlayed its 2015 runner-up into the 2016 title. Last year, Ardrey Kell won its long-awaited title after finishing runner-up in 2022. That means it's been 12 years since a team went from second to first the following season. Interestingly, two teams (Cardinal Gibbons and Myers Park) went from runner-up to state champion in that same time frame, but not in consecutive years. Can Ashley, last year's 4A runner-up, make it five teams in 13 years?
- Woods Charter and South Pointe may not be in 4A, but they certainly want to achieve the “runner-up to state champion” feat.
- The only matchup against a team that has never previously played in a state championship is in 2A, where neither Pine Lake Prep nor Seaforth have ever made it past.
- Conference rival schools Pine Lake Prep and Christ the King are only 10 miles apart, and two of CTK’s three losses this year have come to PLP.
- Woods Charter and Seaforth are only nine miles apart, but the two Chatham County rival schools are not in the same conference.
- ADM for state championship teams: Ashley (2,071), Marvin Ridge (2,050), Jacksonville (1,429), Seaforth (1,059), South Pointe (978), Pine Lake Prep (680), Christ the King (416), Woods Charter (181).
- Total wins by finalist teams: 3 (Marvin Ridge in 2010, Christ the King in 2022 and 2023).
- Total titles won by finalist teams: 8 (Christ the King and Woods Charter have two each, Jacksonville, South Point, Marvin Ridge and Ashley have one each)
Best Player
attack
- Karina Peet, Ashley — The returning first team all-state selection played for the USWNT U-17 team.
- Sofia Viana, Seaforth — He returned to the state third team and is a member of the Brazil U-17 team.
- Kylie Peete, Ashley — Like her twin sister, Karina, she will be attending the University of Louisville.
- Kieran Bradley, Ashley — Who is the third player to have appeared for the Under-17 national team? Bradley has played for the Philippines.
- Avery Garrett, Pine Lake Prep — Creating opportunities for pride
- Caitlin Ehrman, Seaforth — He was the yin to Viana's yang, scoring 49 goals and providing 43 assists.
- Madison Curley, Pine Lake Prep — He is a solid midfielder and can score goals.
- Leila Noronha, Woods Charter — Wolves will need to create scoring chances to get through.
- Landyn Wessels, Jacksonville — Wears No. 10 for the dangerous Cardinals; acquired by Valparaiso
- Mackenzie Morrow, Jacksonville — Navy recruits not afraid to push for goals
Defense
- Maggie Roepke, Ashley — The Temple University freshman leads the backline.
- Elisabeth Navora, Christ the King — One of the state's best goalies joins Wofford College
- Jessica Mattson, Marvin Ridge — The Furman University freshman is an energetic fullback who can move forward.
- Azumi Oka, Jacksonville — This year, he will move back from the top to improve the Cardinals' defense.
- Brianna Pakorski, Christ the King — The MVP of last year's title game was a defensive midfielder from Tampa (D2).
- Morgan Tucker, Ashley — Can make highlight-worthy saves when called upon.
- Riley Donnelly, Jacksonville — The Mars Hill (D2) recruit helped the Cardinals allow just 12 goals all year.
- Camryn McKee, Marvin Ridge — Win the most 50-50 balls as a defensive midfielder
- Katie Leonard, Seaforth — The goalkeeper had to stand tall with the 1-0 win streak.
- Elizabeth Perry, Pine Lake Prep — Defender; Washington & Lee University
Revisit your predictions and predict some more
For the record, most of these finalists were ranked in the preseason rankings. Ashley was our No. 1 team all year. Jacksonville started at No. 11 and was ranked every week. Woods Charter started at No. 20, Pine Lake Prep at No. 23 and Christ the King at No. 25. Marvin Ridge was ranked for several weeks and rose to No. 11, and Seaforth jumped to No. 22 just before the playoffs. South Point was the only finalist who had never been in the top 25.
When it comes to predicting whether any of them will survive, we did a really good job!
We predicted the 1A and 2A matchups perfectly, we predicted Ashley and Jacksonville, nobody expected Marvin Ridge to storm out of the West Division despite winning just nine games in the regular season, nobody expected South Point to return to the title despite losing 52-goal scorer Grace Smith.
All four of our predicted winners are still in the mix, so there's no reason to change those predictions now: Ashley, Jacksonville, Pine Lake Prep and Woods Charter are the favorites to win.
