A two-time state champion soccer team hopes for a three-peat this season.
Aquinas girls’ soccer team is 2-0 early in the season, beating Westside 8-3 Tuesday, Feb. 18. The Fightin’ Irish have won after winning two consecutive 1A D-II State Championships.
The team turned to its winning ways after a dismal 2021-2022 season. Aquinas did not win a single game, finishing 0-10. The Fightin’ Irish followed up the winless season by going an undefeated 14-0 and winning the state title the next two years.
“It was a huge challenge,” said Coach Riley Washington. “The first year, we really couldn’t get anything going, and it was just hard all around. The next year going undefeated, it showed the resilience and want to win of all the players.”
The Irish will now have a couple more challenges on their plate this season. Aquinas has moved up to the 3A division this season, which will increase the competition. One of the teams Aquinas will match up with is now region foe Academy of Richmond County March 6. The Musketeers defeated the Irish 7-0 last season.
“It will be a huge difference,” said Washington. “They will have more players on the bench than we will and overall will be better teams than we’ve been playing. It will be a challenge, but I am excited going up against them.”
Coach Sean Brandes has also been apart the Fightin’ Irish the last few years. He said he is excited for the challenge and to compete against new teams come playoff time.
“We are going to play almost twice as many games and also go to the tournament playing a lot of teams we have not played before,” he said.
Junior Abbie Theobald is one of the leaders on Aquinas that has been with the team for the two consecutive state titles. Despite the jump up to 3A, she believes they can continue to win with hard work.
“We are going to be playing tougher teams this year, but if we keep playing hard and pushing ourselves even when we are losing, we can win games,” she said.
Theobald also said she is looking forward to her last two seasons at Aquinas and reemphasized how important the work the team puts in is.
“I am so excited to continue my journey at Aquinas and to keep winning, but with hard work,” she said. “We run all the time at practice and all of the hard work helps us win games.”
Aquinas also had a couple of its best players and seniors graduate last year. The Irish have three seniors this season and are welcomed by multiple new young teammates.
“I am excited to see who will step up and how the freshman will do,” Washington said. “We lost a ton of great seniors last year that really led us through those two state championships. I am happy to see how the new junior and senior class step up.”
Brandes says one of the main challenges is bringing in the new players and getting them in rhythm with the team.
“It is always a challenge to keep them motivated,” he said. “This group is a lot of new players and young players, so the challenge is bringing them up to speed.”
Another challenge to win another state title is Aquinas may have to go through another back-to-back title holder in 3A State Champions Oconee County. Unlike the Irish, the Warriors did fall in their first game of the season this year.
Aquinas is currently 2-0 and has won dominantly by scores of 10-0 and 8-3. Despite being tied 2-2 versus Westside at the half, Aquinas scored five consecutive goals in Tuesday’s win.
“I want to see them push through even if we are down a game or it is a close game like this one in the first half,” Washington said. “I’d like to see them come back in second half like we did.”
Aquinas will now travel back home to play Cross Creek (0-2) at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Christopher Rickerson, an Augusta University graduate, has covered area sports for Augusta University, The Augusta Press and Augusta Good News. Subscribe to the Augusta Good News newsletter here.
