Oades Keeps Battling Right Up to the End

Mary Oades made the victory party possible and then played host to it.

Oades, a senior forward for the Chatsworth High girls’ soccer team, scored the winning goal in the Chancellors’ 2-1 victory against Grant in the City Section championship Friday. The victory gave her and fellow senior teammates their third consecutive City title, and Chatsworth (10-0) its fifth consecutive overall.

After the match, the team met at Oades’ parents’ house for a celebratory bash and partied until 3 a.m., when her father made pancakes and eggs for the girls.

It might not have been the prototypal breakfast of champions, but Oades had no doubt the team would have reason to celebrate.

“Before the game, I didn’t think there was any way we were going to lose,” Oades said.

And Oades, an All-City selection the past two seasons and a cinch for similar honors again, was not exactly worried when Grant tied the score, 1-1, early in the second half.

She was angry.

“I was mad,” Oades said. “I think we let down a little and made the game harder than it should have been.”

Even worse, she was suffering the effects of a cold and stress-induced asthma.

“I was getting mostly frustrated that I couldn’t breathe and had so much energy and was ready for the game,” Oades said.

She sat out the first few minutes of the second half to rest and used an inhaler to counter effects of the asthma. When she re-entered the match, Grant promptly tied the score.

Then she untied it three minutes later, stealing a pass intended for the Lancer goalkeeper and tapping the ball into the net, capping a remarkable three-year stretch of clutch postseason play.

As a sophomore, Oades scored all six goals in the Chancellors’ 6-0 championship victory against San Pedro.

“They didn’t know about her,” co-Coach Jack Sidwell said. “They found out about her soon enough.”

The following season she sustained torn ligaments in her left knee and underwent surgery a month before the championship. She returned to play in the title match without informing her doctor and assisted on a goal in Chatsworth’s 2-0 victory over Granada Hills.

“I guess when my mind is set on doing something it’s hard to change it,” she said.

This season, she scored 23 goals, including nine in Chatsworth’s three playoff matches.

“That’s her forte,” Sidwell said. “When the whistle blows, she cranks it up an extra notch. We knew going in that she’d do most of the scoring.”

And Oades, who will attend Washington State next season on a soccer scholarship, realized the championship match was her last opportunity to play on the same team with her friends.

“I grew up with about eight players on the team and we used to play together all the time when we were little,” Oades said. “Now we play on different club teams. The only time we get to play together is in high school. It was our last game together and it was important for us to win.”

Sidwell knew Oades and the other seniors had great expectations.

“She and the seniors really wanted to continue the streak,” Sidwell said. “It’s quite an accomplishment.”

Said Oades: “I don’t think it should have been that close. We should have won by more. We have a tradition. When you’ve already won four (championships), it’s hard to give up the fifth one.”