Charlotte Catholic girls soccer chases redemption, tests unbeaten run vs. Marvin

A year ago, Charlotte Catholic’s girls’ soccer team, stocked with freshmen, was ranked No. 10 in America and a state championship seemed inevitable.

But the Cougars were upset, 2-1, in overtime by Ardrey Kell in the NCHSAA 4A state semifinals. That loss, nearly a year ago, ended a 21-game win streak, and the players say that still stings.

And as the Cougars get ready to make a run for a state title this year, they say that memory is fueling them to be better.

“Losing that game was definitely heartbreaking,” said Mary Martin Spinner, a senior heading to play next year at College of Charleston. “So this is just kind of our redemption season. It was hard the way we went out, and we’re working extra hard to get to the state final.”

Those freshmen — Grace Williams, Kinleigh Thornton, Tess Truxillo, Olivia Hayes and Jenna Poole — scored 20 goals last year in 24 games. They’ve already combined for 12 this season in 13 games as sophomores.

And Catholic — led by junior Savanna Leckner (15 goals, 7 assists) and senior Marguerite McPhillips (11 goals, 7 assists) — is 12-0-1 and ranked No. 3 nationally.

“This team is probably deeper than some I’ve had,” said Catholic coach Gary Hoilett, who has 899 wins and eight state championships coaching boys and girls at Catholic since the ‘90s. He’s won more games than any coach in Mecklenburg County history.

“When you go to the bench,” Hoilett said, “you’ve got more quality. But every year, it was to come together.”

He pauses and looks up.

But it looks promising.

Hoilett led the Cougars’ boys team to a state championship in November, and he’s looking for the second double in his career. He led Catholic’s boys’ and girls’ teams to state championships in the 2002-03 school year.

The NCHSAA added four classifications this season, placing teams in the eight classes by enrollment. Catholic is now a 6A school, which means it will be away from most of the state’s heavyweights when the postseason begins.

But Friday night, Catholic will be at 7A Marvin Ridge, a rival from Union County. Marvin Ridge (14-0) is ranked No. 5 in MaxPreps’ national poll.

This will be a big test.

“This is definitely something we have had marked on the calendar,” said McPhillips, who will be at Connecticut College next season. “We’ve talked about it since the beginning of the season. It’s always a good game, and we usually come out on top, and we want to keep doing that. This is probably our toughest competition in the (Southern Carolina) conference. They have such good players on their team, and we know it’ll be a good battle.”

Girls’ soccer on the rise in the area

Girls’ soccer, right now, may be at its zenith in North Carolina.

For the past five years, NC teams have routinely been ranked in the top 25 polls. In the 2024 season, for example, Providence Day reached the top spot in the MaxPreps poll during the season and finished No. 2.

Right now, there are four N.C. teams in the top 10: Charlotte Catholic and Marvin Ridge, plus No. 7 Wilmington Hoggard and No. 8 Greenville Rose. And beyond those, Raleigh Millbrook is ranked No. 16, Hough No. 18 and Providence Day No. 21.

Catawba Ridge, just outside Charlotte in Fort Mill, South Carolina, is No. 24.

What’s changed?

“I think our clubs around Charlotte are very competitive, and the players want to get better,” McPhillips said. “And a lot of players have gone pro from Charlotte and that helps. More girls are coming out because of it.”

Hoilett said the nearly year-round focus of club soccer has created players that, to use his words, are “infinitely more skilled” than their predecessors.

“It’s the number of times they are practicing,” Hoilett said, “and the players are getting coached well and coached better. You could see it coming. Today’s players are so much better technically.”

Catholic? ‘They’re really good’

Charlotte Catholic played at Piedmont, another Union County conference opponent, on Wednesday night. The game was stopped at halftime per the mercy rule. The Cougars — stuffed with club players and college talent — overwhelmed Piedmont from the start, winning 9-0.

It was a little like watching high school’s version of the ‘92 Dream Team in the Olympics.

“That Catholic team,” second-year Piedmont coach Grace Joaquin said, responding to a question. “Yeah, they’re really, really good. It’s like they’re a whole bunch of club players.”

Piedmont has had four straight winning seasons — playing in a different conference made up of smaller school teams — but moved back into the Southern Carolina 6A/7A this season with the new NCHSAA changes.

The Panthers are 3-10 and have lost seven straight games. They just don’t have the firepower to handle a nationally ranked opponent like Catholic.

“We have maybe two or three high-level club girls,” Joaquin said. “For me, our goal this year was to prepare them mentally. Everyone expects us to lose, and the only thing we want our girls to do is not put their heads down and continue to work the entire game. So that’s really our expectation. It’s effort.”

Sure enough, Piedmont played hard Wednesday on its home turf, even during a stretch where Catholic scored four goals in less than six minutes.

Hoilett, the Cougars’ legendary coach, knows there will be lots of games like that on the schedule, and he said his job is to make his team stay focused. Marvin Ridge is coming. The playoffs are coming.

“We’ve got a good collection of attacking players,” Hoilett said, “and it’s constantly talking to them about staying focused, because the first time we aren’t focused, somebody may slip past us.”

Catholic has outscored teams 68-3 this season. Standout junior goalie Fallon Leckner has 10 shutouts. There have been lots of games, like Wednesday’s, when the starters are lying around in front of the bench on blankets — in the first half.

Everything is going great.

But everything was going great last season, too.

Martin Spinner said that memory is what keeps her team alert.

“Our team chemistry is our strength,” she said. “We work really well together. And we just stay focused in practice, take every opponent seriously, and we have a level we try to stay at, and we try to bring that to every game.

“We have to.”