BCA earns league title in girls’ soccer
By Conor O’Neill
Burlington Times-News
Feeling like everything accomplished this season has been earned, it made sense that Burlington Christian Academy’s first ever conference championship in girls’ soccer should be that way, too.
“In years past … we were a good team, but this year every touch we have we really earn what we do and we just play well together,” said senior Camille Abbott after Thursday’s 3-2 victory against Caldwell Academy at Fairchild Park. “I’ve never had a team like this, so I’m glad I get to share my final year like this with them.”
Goals from Jessica Capes, Gracie Brown and Svea Eckstrand staked the Royals (14-1 overall, 12-0 Triad Athletic Conference) to a 3-1 lead by halftime. Kenzie Rennie’s second goal for Caldwell Academy came in the 51st minute and brought a few nervous sequences for the rest of the second half, though BCA controlled the ball for most of that time.
When it was finished, BCA’s cohesive team could celebrate its first league title.
“When I was in seventh grade and first got on the team, that was my goal, to win a conference championship. So it feels amazing,” said Capes, a sophomore. “I didn’t really think about it when it first started, but this season I was like, ‘OK, we can do this. We’ve got a good team, a strong team this year. And I believed we could do it.’ ”
It came against a team that sixth-year BCA coach Katie Meads calls the Royals’ “kryptonite.” Caldwell Academy (13-4, 10-2) is the only team in the Triad Athletic Conference to score against BCA this season, losing both matchups 3-2.
“It is super surreal. But it is very much an honor to be a small part of a historic team for this school,” Meads said. “Because it’s been building for many years, and so the potential has been there, but to carry it out this year has been awesome.”
Capes’ goal came in the first eight minutes on a feed from Brown, navigating around a defender and then goalie Sarah Cobb. With the early lead, Capes clanged shots off of the crossbar and the left post within a minute of each other, denying the Royals an early two-goal lead.
“(My coaches) always, always say I hit the post and crossbar and they say, ‘Don’t ever do it again,’ ” the high-scoring Capes said with a laugh. “I tend to hit the post more than the crossbar.”
Instead, Rennie’s first goal tied the game at 1-1 in the 22nd minute. That knotted score didn’t last long, with Brown taking a feed from Abbott about a minute later and the freshman Eckstrand scoring in the 35th minute.
Closing out the Eagles, and the conference championship, came with eight saves from freshman goalkeeper Abi Proffit. It also came with the Royals refusing to be comfortable, several players throughout the second half shouting to play as if the score was 0-0.
“You can’t get comfortable, that’s one thing we’ve learned,” Abbott said. “We’ve played them in the past and we can be up by three or four and that doesn’t mean we’ve won it yet. Any team, really.”
That’ll be a key for the Royals moving forward, trying to repeat their conference tournament championship next week and into the state playoffs.
“We’ve come a long way for sure,” Meads said. “It’s just maturing physically, mentally, and then this freshman class that we’ve brought in, they’ve been really a dynamic game-changer for us as well because they all play together so well, it’s just awesome to see on the field.”
By Conor O’Neill
Burlington Times-News
Feeling like everything accomplished this season has been earned, it made sense that Burlington Christian Academy’s first ever conference championship in girls’ soccer should be that way, too.
“In years past … we were a good team, but this year every touch we have we really earn what we do and we just play well together,” said senior Camille Abbott after Thursday’s 3-2 victory against Caldwell Academy at Fairchild Park. “I’ve never had a team like this, so I’m glad I get to share my final year like this with them.”
Goals from Jessica Capes, Gracie Brown and Svea Eckstrand staked the Royals (14-1 overall, 12-0 Triad Athletic Conference) to a 3-1 lead by halftime. Kenzie Rennie’s second goal for Caldwell Academy came in the 51st minute and brought a few nervous sequences for the rest of the second half, though BCA controlled the ball for most of that time.
When it was finished, BCA’s cohesive team could celebrate its first league title.
“When I was in seventh grade and first got on the team, that was my goal, to win a conference championship. So it feels amazing,” said Capes, a sophomore. “I didn’t really think about it when it first started, but this season I was like, ‘OK, we can do this. We’ve got a good team, a strong team this year. And I believed we could do it.’ ”
It came against a team that sixth-year BCA coach Katie Meads calls the Royals’ “kryptonite.” Caldwell Academy (13-4, 10-2) is the only team in the Triad Athletic Conference to score against BCA this season, losing both matchups 3-2.
“It is super surreal. But it is very much an honor to be a small part of a historic team for this school,” Meads said. “Because it’s been building for many years, and so the potential has been there, but to carry it out this year has been awesome.”
Capes’ goal came in the first eight minutes on a feed from Brown, navigating around a defender and then goalie Sarah Cobb. With the early lead, Capes clanged shots off of the crossbar and the left post within a minute of each other, denying the Royals an early two-goal lead.
“(My coaches) always, always say I hit the post and crossbar and they say, ‘Don’t ever do it again,’ ” the high-scoring Capes said with a laugh. “I tend to hit the post more than the crossbar.”
Instead, Rennie’s first goal tied the game at 1-1 in the 22nd minute. That knotted score didn’t last long, with Brown taking a feed from Abbott about a minute later and the freshman Eckstrand scoring in the 35th minute.
Closing out the Eagles, and the conference championship, came with eight saves from freshman goalkeeper Abi Proffit. It also came with the Royals refusing to be comfortable, several players throughout the second half shouting to play as if the score was 0-0.
“You can’t get comfortable, that’s one thing we’ve learned,” Abbott said. “We’ve played them in the past and we can be up by three or four and that doesn’t mean we’ve won it yet. Any team, really.”
That’ll be a key for the Royals moving forward, trying to repeat their conference tournament championship next week and into the state playoffs.
“We’ve come a long way for sure,” Meads said. “It’s just maturing physically, mentally, and then this freshman class that we’ve brought in, they’ve been really a dynamic game-changer for us as well because they all play together so well, it’s just awesome to see on the field.”
