Eagles take care of business at state

The Columbia High School girls soccer team finished the job Saturday at North Central College in Naperville, winning the IHSA Class 1A state title with a 4-0 victory over North Shore Country Day.

The team’s motto in 2019 was “Unfinished Business” following postseason near misses over the past few seasons.

The Eagles left no doubt who the top team in the Illinois was this weekend, outscoring their state tourney opponents 9-0. For the season, Columbia (27-2-1) held a 130-13 scoring advantage over its competitors. The team did not lose to an Illinois school all season.

The senior members of the team racked up 83 total wins for the program.

Following a few missed scoring chances for Columbia, Fae Harrell headed in a goal off a corner kick from Kennedy Jones to put the Eagles up 1-0 with 15 minutes remaining in the first half on Saturday.

Jones followed up with a goal following a nice pass from Reagan Mauch with just more than a minute left in the half.

In the second half, Mauch assisted on a goal by Haley Glover at the 17:34 mark to put Columbia up comfortably at 3-0.

Mauch put the icing on the cake for the Eagles with a goal at 1:17, giving Columbia its first state title in girls soccer.

On Friday, Harrell scored twice and Glover, Jones and Mauch also notched goals in the semifinal victory over Lisle.

A parade to welcome home the state champions will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday, starting from the Columbia fire station and traveling on Main Street to Veterans Parkway before ending at the high school.

Other state titles for Columbia include baseball in 1987 and 2007, cheerleading in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, and boys soccer in 2014.

Corey Saathoff

Corey is the editor of the Republic-Times. He has worked at the newspaper since 2004, and currently resides in Columbia. He is also the principal singer-songwriter and plays guitar in St. Louis area country-rock band The Trophy Mules.
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