I am going to step away from the normal topic today, and write about a soccer team.  A team that I have followed for four years now, containing players that have played together for many more than that.  I am not referring to any professional team, but rather the Lehman Catholic High School Girls soccer team.  This group of girls, which includes my daughter Jenna, has been the epitome of commitment. 

From the very first day of recreational soccer in early childhood, this group has played together (sometimes on opposing teams), and have in the process become more than just friends.  They’ve become family. 

Soccer, although a fall sport, is played almost year round.  There are spring leagues, winter indoor leagues, and of course fall leagues.  During their high school years, they rarely had a season off.  They continued to play spring ball, which led to the grueling summers of conditioning, and on into the fall schedule. 

In most team sports, continuity and team unity often play as big a part as talent.  This group of girls had all three, in addition to a fantastic coaching staff.  From the day they entered their freshmen year of high school, it was their goal to ultimately win a state championship. 

During their freshmen year, most of them had considerable playing time, and some even started on a team that went 17-3-0, but ultimately fell in the District Final to a much larger school in Cincinnati McNicholas.  That year, (and years prior) there were only two divisions in girl’s soccer.  After that year, they created a third division, and Lehman (being a very small school) dropped to Division III.

Their Sophomore year saw similar success, with most of these girls now starting.  While obviously a very young team, they compiled an 11-4-3 record, falling in the District Semi-Final to arch-rival Miami East.  Miami East, along with Lehman Catholic and Troy Christian, became the premier girl’s soccer programs from the northern Miami Valley.  Each battle between the three was monumental, and they were always games the girls looked forward to playing.

In their Junior year, the girls were now the majority of the team.  With only 2 seniors that year (although both were vital) the junior class needed to step up and be leaders.  Not only were they leaders, but they reached high with a 16-3-0 record.  They also reached the District final again, this time defeating Miami East in the semi-final to get there.  The district final was disappointing, with them losing to Cincinnati Summit Country Day, but the girls felt they had a score to settle.  As they walked off the field that day, they set the senior season goal of a state championship.

During the team discussion of setting this goal, Coach Tony got a commitment from the entire team to go the extra mile, and truly push themselves harder than ever to accomplish this goal.  From the moment spring soccer was completed, the push was on.  Using the guidelines of the OHSAA, the team began the quest to achieve their goal.  The brutal conditioning through the summer heat, the focused practices, and the weight training all came with relative ease simply because this team had a vision and were focused on that vision.  But the one question remained.  Could they endure the long season, and take their game to the next level in order to climb the mountain and get beyond the district final and hopefully on to a state championship? 

Lehman  was tested early and often.  The coaching staff, along with the athletic department, put together a very tough pre-season schedule.  They got through it with incredible success, and were well prepared for the regular season.  With only 2 goals given up in the entire preseason, it became apparent that the defense of this team would be stellar.

The regular season arrived and like the pre-season, was very difficult by design.  The coaching staff wanted the girls to face stiff competition on a regular basis.  Someone apparently forgot to mention this fact to the girls, because they skated out to a 9-0-1 start, outscoring their opponents 42-2.  Game 11 was the only blemish in an otherwise undefeated regular season, as they fell to arch-rival Miami East.  That defeat left a sour taste in their mouth and they vowed to push even harder to achieve their goal.  After that loss, they finished strong by winning their final 5 games, and finishing 14-1-1. They outscored their opponents 62-5, and were the number one seed come playoff time.

Being the number one seed, their first round draw was against a team that hadn’t won a game all year.  The girls rolled to an easy victory, and immediately began preparing for the long awaited re-match with Miami East in the District semi-final.  With a record of 12-2-2, Miami East had intentions of their own, but the Lehman girls prevailed 1-0 with a dominating defensive performance. 

Next came Bethel, and the chance to make Shelby County history.  By beating Bethel, and claiming the District Championship, they would go where no other soccer team in county history has ever gone.  Bethel fought hard early on, but our girls once again proved that they were the best in the area, by defeating them 5-0.

On to regionals!  For the first time in County history, a soccer team advanced to regionals.  The opponent was Cincinnati Summit Country Day.  Summit is a perennial power, and was the team that knocked them from the playoffs the previous year.  Even though Lehman played, and defeated, Summit during the regular season, the girls have been waiting for this moment to settle the score.  And settle they did!  After getting out to a 3-2 halftime lead, the defense went to work and stifled the Summit onslaught up to the final horn.  The offense added an additional goal to make the final score 4-2.  The victory put the team in the regional finals, one game away from state.

In the regional finals, Lehman would have to face a very difficult opponent in Hamilton Badin.  Badin came into the game with a 12-4-4 record, but virtually every game they played was against larger schools and very good teams.  The game began slowly for Lehman, with Badin scoring the game’s only goal to take a 1-0 halftime lead.  In the second half, Lehman battled as is their season depended on it, because it did.  They had numerous shots on goal and they ramped up their defense,  but they simply couldn’t get a shot into the net.  Badin pulled out a victory 1-0, ending the title hopes for the girls.

It was a defeat that was very hard to take, but as I look back over the entire season, this team has a LOT to be proud of.  While falling short of their main goal, they accomplished many, many things.

During the pre-season, they:

  • Defeated, D-III state semi-finalist Middletown Fenwick.
  • Played to a tie with a very good D-I Beavercreek
  •  Defeated a very good D-I Cincinnati Colerain
  • Played to a tie with D-II state champion Rocky River
  • Allowed only 2 goals the entire pre-season.

During the regular season, they:

  • Played to a tie with D-II Regional Finalist Celina
  • Defeated perennial powers Cincinnati Summit Country Day, and Cincinnati Madiera
  • Defeated archival and District Finalist Troy Christian
  • Defeated a very good D-II Piqua team 6-0
  • Outscored their opponents 62-5·               

During the playoffs, they:

  • Defeated arch-rival Miami East to advance to District Finals
  • Won District Finals by defeating Bethel
  • Advanced to Regional Finals by defeating for the second time, Cincinnati Summit Country Day.
  • While not accomplishing their ultimate goal, they fought hard in the Regional Final against Hamilton Badin.  Badin went on to win the D-III State Championship       

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Additionally, many local and state level accolades were given to several players and to the coaching staff as well.

One thing can be said about this team.  They would go toe-to-toe with any team in the state, and would give them everything they could handle.  In most cases they would come out victorious. 

The main point of writing this was to emphasize a point.  While several girls did receive accolades at the local and state level, Lehman was not a team of area all-stars.  More than anything else, these girls were a team.  They were well coached, disciplined, and worked extremely hard.  They were taught how to play soccer the right way from a very young age, and always seemed to answer any challenge thrown their direction.  Regardless of opponent, they were never overwhelmed, and rose to the challenge.  Like most other sports, soccer is a game of inches, and because of that they fell short of their ultimate goal.  But if they gave away trophies for team unity, honor, commitment, and respect for each other and their coaches, these girls would take home the state title with relative ease because from the moment they first put on the tiny shin guards in elementary school  recreational soccer all the way through high school, they were more than just friends on a team. 

They were family.