The Amity girls soccer team celebrates with the trophy after winning the state title. (Photo by Austin White)

The No. 2 Amity girls soccer team started the 2025 season with a 2-1 loss to Banks.

The Warriors wouldn’t lose another game, punctuating the 18-game unbeaten streak with a 2-1 (4-1 PKs) win over No. 1 Valley Catholic in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 3A/2A/1A state championship game Saturday at Liberty High School.

Despite a tough Valiants back line making chances nearly impossible, the Warriors were able to sneak in a goal in the eighth minute from Haley Miersma to go up 1-0 before a 16th minute equalizer from Valley Catholic. 

The match stayed tied the rest of the way and went to penalty kicks where Amity senior goalkeeper Kylie Wilson made two saves to help her team win it 4-1.

“She’s the best 3A keeper in the state,” Amity head coach Andy Dyer said. “We knew it coming in. She’s only been playing soccer since her sophomore year, she’s a basketball player. We coached her and she’s such a good learner. Everything we teach, she does it. She listens and then does it.”

“I was stressed, but I wasn’t feeling too bad or ever felt like they were going to get another goal because I really trust my defense,” Wilson said. “They did have a lot of pressure, but I never thought they were going to get through.”

Miersma didn’t waste any time for the Warriors, getting a pass on a runout up the middle in the eighth minute. 

She put the brakes on, leaving her defender moving forward and had a lane where she fired it perfectly into the upper, far-side corner for the goal.

“I was thinking in my head, ‘Hey, we just gotta get a quick, early goal,’” Miersma said. “‘I’m open, I might as well shoot it.’ And it went in. I think that really helped motivate us a bit, I think it kept us in the game.”

The Valiants defense would stand firm for most of the first half, getting the ball back constantly for the offense which forced a corner kick in the 16th minute.

The ball went into the box and off the head of senior Madi Groshong, stayed in the box and was headed home by freshman Evelyn Elliott to level the match at one.

Valley Catholic kept pounding away after tying the match, finishing the first half with an advantage in shots 7-4 and four of them going on goal.

The second half looked much the same way to start as the Valiants kept peppering the goal, eventually ending the half with 15 shots and eight of them on goal.

However, Wilson stood on her head with eight saves and didn’t allow any of the shots to sneak through. The Warriors backline made sure none of those shots were that strong either.

“I love (Wilson), if we didn’t have (Wilson) we would not have made it this far,” Miersma said. “She’s improved since the beginning of the year to now tremendously. We really could not have done it without her, her PK saves and all the other saves.”

In the final minute of regulation, Miersma had another solo run and was fouled right outside of the penalty box with under 10 seconds to go. The Warriors sent in their free kick, but Groshong headed it out and sent the match to overtime.

The best look in the first half of OT was from Amity when a deep run got Valley Catholic goalkeeper Brooklyn McCollister out of position. The ball went back to the middle of the field where Lyliana Rideout had an open look, but a block sent the ball out behind the goal and the corner kick was defended out by the Valiants as well.

The second overtime saw less dramatics and instead set the stage for PKs where Amity was up first.

Senior Eliza Nisly went first and scored, followed by Valley Catholic’s Calista Everson who also scored on her attempt.

The second round saw Miersma score on her attempt, and then Wilson made her first save diving to her left against Valiants sophomore Riona Hiratsuka.

In the third round, senior Adie Nisly connected on her shot for Amity, and Wilson made another save, this one on junior Skylar Fasana.

That meant all junior Grace Ulloa had to do for Amity was find the net, and she did on a shot to the far side that went right by the post and in for the Warriors’ first girls soccer state title.

“It’s just insane,” Wilson said of winning the state title. “I can’t even believe it, like it’s not comprehending. It’s great to see (the community’s) support. We’re a small town so it just feels great to have everyone come out and just cheer us on and know that they’re behind us.”

Wilson finished the match with 10 saves as Valley Catholic outshot Amity 19-12 and 11-5 when it came to shots on goal.

But despite the constant push from the Valiants, the Warriors never broke and found a way to get to PKs and come up clutch from there.

“This year was our confidence, we had the ability to do this last year too but we didn’t have that confidence in ourselves,” Dyer said. “This year we came in and really played for each other. For most of the girls this is their last year, so they came in ready, confident in knowing their ability and believing the coaches telling them they could do it.”

The Amity win is also the first time a public school has won the 3A/2A/1A state title since it was created starting in the 2010 season. Valley Catholic, Catlin Gabel and Oregon Episcopal had won all 14 previous titles.

But now, Amity gets to head back home where the plan is to celebrate at the El Toro restaurant in town.

No matter what the outcome was, the Warriors had a phenomenal season. And the championship is now the icing on the cake. Or should we say the cilantro on the taco.

“I’m just so happy to be here,” Miersma added. “I came into this knowing that I’m just happy to be here. Win or lose, I’m happy I got to play with my friends senior year. And then we won it, so it made it even better.”