Historic Sand Springs Soccer season comes to end at Broken Arrow
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This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.
The winningest season in program history came to a close for the Lady Sandites soccer team Tuesday evening in Broken Arrow, as the host Tigers shut out Charles Page High School 5-0 in the first round of the playoffs.
“This has been a historic team, historic season,” said head coach Cisco Chavez. “The girls fought till the very end. It didn’t go our way tonight. We versed a very well-coached Broken Arrow team. This team is history and I couldn’t be more proud of them, even with the result tonight.”
The undersized Sandites (12-5) qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2012 but couldn’t get past the 6A-4 district champions from Broken Arrow (13-1).
Cora Hair got the Tigers on the board in the 27th minute, then Brianna Castleberry scored on a wild bounce five minutes later. She attempted to pass the ball up to a forward, but it skipped up over the heads of both her teammate and the Sandite goalie for a 2-0 halftime lead.
In the second half Broken Arrow’s rotational depth exposed the Sandites’ short bench and holes began to open in the Sandite backfield. The Tigers only had four shots on goal in the first half but upped that number to 13 in the second half.
“We knew going into this season, having a small team would be challenging for when we versed the bigger schools, but these girls fought,” said Chavez.
Elena Conoway and Cameron Majka also scored goals in the second half and Hair added another to end the Sandites’ historic season.
“Every game they fought,” said Chavez. “They were able to upset Union, able to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. This team, it’s all praise from me. They left it all out there for me and that’s all you can ask for from them from a coach perspective. And this coaching staff, they’ve had a great year.”
Sophomore star Christina Thompson came away with 12 total saves for the Sandites, including 10 in the second half.
“Christina played out of her mind tonight,” said Chavez. “She played amazing. Like I said, we faced a very good BA team that won their district, so I’m very happy with our performance. Not happy with the result, of course, but these girls fought to the very end. To my seniors, I wish them nothing but the best going forward.”
The season will continue for Rogers State-bound senior midfielder Karsen Lynch, who was named to the OSCA 6A All-State team. She is the 29th All-State selection for the Lady Sandites.
The 6A All-State game will be held June 9th at 6:00 p.m. at Bishop Kelley High School, and Chavez will be the head coach for the East girls.
The Sandites are poised for continued success in the coming seasons, as they’ll return the vast majority of their starters.
“We’re young. We’re one of the youngest teams I think,” said Chavez.
“We only started one senior, the rest were juniors, sophomores, and I think we had the most freshmen out there. So these next few years for the Sandites are very strong. I think they got their first playoff experience and they’ll come back stronger next year.”
Freshman Lainey Stanfill led the Sandites with 23 goals this season, followed by Ava Watts with 16, Alyssa Cunningham with 5, Lynch with 4, and Carson Sargent with 2. Lauren Foster, Evelin Marino, and Ashlee Feigenbaum all scored one apiece.
Broken Arrow went on to defeat Bixby 3-0 in the quarterfinals and will play Edmond Deer Creek (12-2) Tuesday at home. Deer Creek is looking for its seventh title overall and first since 2015, while Broken Arrow is looking for its eighth title overall and first since 2018.
