HILLSBORO – A year ago, the Catlin Gabel girls soccer team suffered an earlier playoff exit than its used to when it fell in the quarterfinals.
A team with only one senior though, the Eagles knew they had a shot to be right back in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 3A/2A/1A state title game this season.
After going 14-0 in the regular season, Catlin Gabel closed the final four chapters of the comeback season in the playoffs, ending with a 1-0 win over rival No. 2 Oregon Episcopal in the state title match Saturday at Liberty High School.
Another year older and another year wiser certainly helped the group, but for senior captain Alana Hill, it is more important growing closer as a team as to why the Eagles were able to have a more successful season.
“We’ve really prioritized group bonding off the field,” Hill said. “I think this, of all four years, is the most cohesive team social dynamic wise and I think that translates on the field. … I think that’s why we were undefeated this season.”
“We had a really good run of state finals and that got broken up last year,” Eagles head coach Chris Dorough said. “I think it gave this group coming back a lot of extra motivation to get back to the top, and we had a great senior class this year, along with a really talented freshmen class that came in.”
Speaking of those freshmen, the lone goal in the win over OES came from freshman Lia Peng-Field in the 35th minute.
She maneuvered her way into the box on the near side through a couple OES defenders while Aardvarks freshman goalkeeper Hazel Bragg tried to cut off the far side of the goal. Peng-Field fired a shot toward the near-side post that Bragg attempted to block, but missed. However, the ball went off the post and back into the middle of the field.
In the scramble, Peng-Field won out and tapped it home into the wide-open net for a 1-0 Catlin Gabel lead heading into halftime.
“I’ve been playing futsal and I love to incorporate what I’ve learned from different types of soccer into it,” Peng-Field said. “That was actually a toe-poke that I got off. Hit the post and I was trying to get anything I could to get it into that goal, so I actually ended up taking it off the outside of my left foot and hitting it in.”
At the start of the season, Peng-Field having the state-championship winning goal was unlikely as she came off the bench.
A couple unfortunate injuries to the Eagles starting lineup pushed the freshman into the top 11, and she made it count with 26 goals on the season, including a hat trick in the semifinal to get Catlin Gabel back to the final match.
However, no goal was bigger than the last one.
“She was playing very well, but came in as a starter midseason and since then has been absolutely on fire,” Dorough said. “She’s carried us through, her and Alana, their goals in the back end of the season were huge for us.”
For the first 15 minutes, both sides had a couple good crosses, but no clear shots came from any of the looks.
In the 16th minute, Catlin Gabel had a breakaway look from freshman Matilda Hill that was easily saved by Bragg, and then a follow up shot from Alana Hill sailed high over the crossbar.
OES got a response in the 21st minute when sophomore Stella Zupan came rushing down the middle of the field past Eagles defenders and Catlin Gabel senior goalkeeper Sydney Perlewitz came out to meet her. Zupan was quicker though and got the shot off, which went off the hands of Perlewitz and trickled slowly to the far side of the net and just to the outside of the post.
Peng-Field had a strong look in the 35th minute when she got a ball in transition down field and made a move to the middle of the field.
The freshman, with 25 goals this year, fired a curler that nearly hooked it’s way around Bragg who came out from net, but the OES keeper dove to her right and made the save.
Two minutes later came the big play, and Peng-Field wasn’t going to be denied this time as she scored on the rebound to give Catlin Gabel a 1-0 halftime lead.
Peng-Field originally wasn’t going to be available as the family had a planned trip to New Zealand. Hill said the team convinced the parents to let the freshman fly later and allow her to play in the final.
“We lost senior Addi Dauler (to graduation), she has the fifth most goals in state history, so pretty big shoes to fill,” Hill said. “Lia’s done an excellent job, especially as a freshman.”
Catlin Gabel held an 11-3 shot advantage at the break after taking control in the final 20 minutes of the first half.
OES came out strong in the second half as senior Cassidy Paulson , who was the Co-Player of the Year with Alana Hill in Special District 1, pushed her way into the box in the opening minute and fired an off-target shot.
However, the Eagles went right back to work pushing the issue and nearly got another breakthrough in the 50th minute when Matilda Hill’s header in front of the net off a free kick just skated a little too high and over the crossbar.
Paulson wasn’t done applying pressure though and in the 56th minute, she outran a couple Eagles defenders to a rolling ball in the middle of the Catlin Gabel box.
Perlewitz came out to challenge, but had to slide and provide a speed bump for Paulson instead of a full stop.
The ball hopped over Perlewitz toward the end line where Paulson won the race again, but her cross toward the box wasn’t met by any teammates and the Eagles cleared it to the side for a throw-in.
“They kept us in this game,” Alana Hill said of the back line. “I think we play as a team, we communicate and the back line, they always step up. I think it really allows the offense to play more freely because we’re not worried about getting back, we trust them wholeheartedly.”
Paulson made another good run in the 71st minute where she blew by some Eagles defenders about 40 yards out from goal, but Catlin Gabel caught up to her in the six-yard box and didn’t allow the OES senior to get off a shot.
Catlin Gabel finished with a 22-8 shot advantage, 10-1 in shots on goal with six corners compared to OES’ three.
“I’m so appreciative of all my defenders, we’ve been working so hard this season and we’ve gotten so much better,” Peng-Field said. “Just watching from the sidelines, everyone is doing so well and I’m trying to talk to them and let them know what I’m seeing. I’m just really proud of everyone back there defending, it could not have been easy.”
Those defenders helped thwart the last few pushes from the Aardvarks as the time chipped away and eventually ran out, giving the Eagles their 18th girls soccer state title.
Couple that with a loss in the 6A state title game by Jesuit and Catlin Gabel is the new solo state leader in all-time girls soccer titles.
“It feels absolutely outstanding to get back to the top after a year off,” Dorough said. “These girls work really, really hard. Extra motivation for me being a Catlin alum, I’m used to OES as a player and now as a coach, this is the one. … Beating your rival is pretty sweet.”
For Hill and her five fellow seniors in Perlewitz, Eleanor Hall, Celia Grube, Layla Hewitt and Sammy Wells, the win marks a third state title in their four years with the Eagles.
And while last year might have been a bump, the 2027 class gets to go out with smooth sailing as undefeated state champions.
“Coming off a rough team season and rough individual season last year – I tore my ACL, I didn't play – this game had a lot of extra weight,” Hill said. “I’m really proud of how our group delivered today. It was a tight game, it wasn’t a pretty game, but we got the job done.”
austinw@osaa.org
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