Catlin Gabel senior defender Sammy Wells was a 3A/2A/1A second-team selection last season. (Photo by Amanda Lohman)

Heading into last season, Catlin Gabel's girls soccer team had played in nine consecutive state championship games, 10 if counting the 3A culminating tournament in the spring of 2021.

So when the Eagles – bidding for a 3A/2A/1A three-peat – opened last season with a tie to Banks and a loss to Scappoose, they started doing some soul-searching.

“I think some of the girls were pretty frustrated,” coach Chris Dorough said. “Other teams sensed that we were down a little bit, so we got a lot of best efforts from them.”

Catlin Gabel finished 11-5-1, its most losses since 2013, Dorough's first season as coach. Now, coming off a quarterfinal exit in the state playoffs, the Eagles are determined to regain their lofty status.

Through three games, Catlin Gabel appears to be living up to its No. 1 ranking in the OSAAtoday preseason coaches poll. The Eagles opened the season on the road by beating Brookings-Harbor 8-1 on Friday and No. 4 St. Mary's of Medford 2-0 on Saturday, then posted a 2-1 home win over 4A No. 2 Scappoose on Monday.

“This gives the team a lot of confidence to start the year,” Dorough said. “To get three wins over good sides, I think it really will give us that extra motivation that when things are hard, we can do hard things.”

Catlin Gabel graduated only one player from last season, but it was a huge loss in forward Addi Dauler, the school's all-time leading scorer. She scored 126 goals, No. 5 all-time in the state, before moving on to a college career at Johns Hopkins.

So far, though, the Eagles have replaced Dauler's production by committee. Seven players scored against Brookings-Harbor, including two from senior midfielder Alana Hall, the district player of the year as a sophomore who missed last season with a torn ACL.

“We're spreading it around,” Dorough said. “For us, that's a big change. The last couple years, we knew where the goals were going to come from. This year, we have six or seven players that could lead us in scoring. I think that's a good thing for us, more of a team dynamic. It makes us much tougher to mark.”

Catlin Gabel erupted for four goals in the first 11 minutes against Brookings-Harbor. The following day, the Eagles got goals from junior Meera Mohit in the 68th minute and freshman Lia Peng-Field in the 79th minute to turn back St. Mary's.

Monday's game against Scappoose, a 4A semifinalist last year, was a big test for the Eagles. Sophomore Siri Hareland and freshman Matilda Hill scored in the first half, and after Scappoose answered with a goal off an indirect free kick with 20 minutes left, Catlin Gabel closed out the win.

“We had to weather a storm for about 10 minutes when they got a bunch of momentum,” Dorough said. “But the last 10, we had all the momentum.”

The return of Alana Hill has helped offset the loss of Dauler. At center midfield, Hill is more of a distributor than Dauler, which has changed how the Eagles attack.

“Getting Alana back is a big asset,” Dorough said. “She'll put up a bunch of goals and assists. The same players are around, but our style is shifting more to a passing game. I see us moving the ball a lot better.”

The Eagles are more experienced this season with five senior starters in Alana Hill, defenders Sammy Wells and Celia Grube, forward Layla Hewitt and goalkeeper Sydney Perlewitz, a third-year starter. They have four sophomores that started as freshmen in Hareland, Ruby Wohlgemuth, Jojo Hall and Saylor Buckley.

“A lot of those players were getting big minutes the last couple years,” Dorough said. “That has created good depth for us.”

Catlin Gabel already avenged last year's loss to Scappoose. Up next, the Eagles want to make amends for last year's tie against Banks when they visit the Braves on Wednesday night. Then on Sept. 8, they play host to 4A No. 3 Valley Catholic, which beat them twice last year, including in the state quarterfinals.

“Based off last year, the motivation is pretty high for some of these rebound games for us,” Dorough said.

With 17 official state titles, the Eagles are tied with Jesuit for the most in state history. Dorough is 182-34-12 with four official state titles since taking over as coach.