HILLSBORO – Addi Dauler couldn’t stop smiling.
Neither could Alana Hill.
Their Catlin Gabel girls soccer teammates were also all smiles – championship smiles.
The determined Eagles started fast and never let up on their way to scoring a 5-0 win over Central Linn/East Linn Christian in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 3A/2A/1A final Saturday under rainy skies at Liberty High School.
“I’m really happy. This moment means a lot,” said Hill, a sophomore who scored a pair of goals in the win. “This is an awesome victory. We lost a lot of seniors from last year, and we’ve had a lot of injuries throughout the season. We’ve had a tough season, but we’ve had a really big effort from the whole team.”
“It means a lot,” said Dauler, a junior who tallied three first-half goals. “Last year we won (over Valley Catholic in penalty kicks), so it was nice to bring it home again, especially since we’ve had a lot of injuries.”
With the victory, the second-seeded Eagles, led by head coach Chris Dorough, finished their season with a 16-2-1 record. The win came in Catlin Gabel’s ninth straight time playing in the finals, and its 25th overall. The championship was the Eagles’ 17th, and this one may have had a bit of a special meaning.
“Our teammate, Celia (Grube), tore her ACL, so was nice to win it for her,” Dauler said. “And our (assistant) coach Emma Sadle, played here four years in a row (for Catlin Gabel), and lost all four years, so it also means a lot to win for her.”
Top-seeded Central Linn/East Linn Christian, playing in the title tilt for the first time in program history, finished its season at 16-1-1.
“It was huge getting here,” Cobras senior forward Josie Grunerud said. “We’ve never done that before. We made history.”
Catlin Gabel got off to a fast start to the contest, taking a 1-0 lead when Dauler scored on a shot from 16 yards away, coming off an assist from junior Ella Bulkley in the 13th minute.
“We were pumped, we were excited,” Hill said. “We knew that Central Linn has had an amazing season. It’s their first time in the finals, so we knew we had to bring the energy.”
The Eagles kept soaring later in the half.
Hill scored on a high shot that deflected off the Cobras’ goalkeeper’s hands in the 25th minute. Less than a minute after that, Dauler scored on a spin-around shot from 25 yards away, coming off a pass from Hill. Then, in the 38th minute, Dauler scored again, this time on a header coming off a corner kick by sophomore Sammy Wells.
That goal gave Catlin Gabel a 4-0 lead, and Dauler three first-half goals.
“My team is really good at finding me,” said Dauler, who finished her season with 40 goals. “It felt pretty great.”
Hill capped off the scoring, getting her second goal of the match coming on a close-range shot in the 65th minute.
“I’m super excited and proud to have gotten two goals, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Hill said.
The Catlin Gabel defense, including sophomore Eleanor Hall, senior Lauren Kim, senior Elise Kim and Wells, among others, limited Central Linn/East Linn Christian to four shots on goal in the contest.
Still, the Cobras kept battling to the end.
“We have a lot of grit on our team, and we all decided that we weren’t going to give up, and that we were going to fight until the end,” Grunerud said.
Grunerud and junior Addie Wolff each had two shots on goal for the Cobras.
“This is a nice way to go out,” Grunerud said. “I’m very proud.”
