Weary Chaminade Ties Up League Title

After Chaminade High clinched its first Mission League girls’ soccer championship by tying Harvard-Westlake, 1-1, on Saturday, the Eagles staged a subdued victory celebration.

Who could blame the Eagles? They had just played 200 minutes of soccer in less than 24 hours.

Fresh off a 100-minute, 1-1 overtime draw against Louisville Friday night, Chaminade had to play a Saturday-morning make-up match at Harvard. Win or tie and the Eagles clinch the league title outright. Lose and they would have to share it with the Wolverines.

Many of the Eagles hadn’t rubbed the sleep out of their eyes when Harvard’s Susan Baise scored nine minutes into the match off an assist from Stacy Schwartz.

Looking weary and slow afoot, the Eagles nonetheless managed a response six minutes later.

Chaminade sweeper Vanessa Thiele scored on a free kick just outside the Harvard penalty area, blasting a curving shot to the right of a wall of defenders and into the net.

“We talked about (defending Thiele’s kicks) all week, that’s what she’s known for,” said Harvard Coach Ned Smith, whose team finished third in league.

Harvard (15-6-2, 6-2-2 in league play) dominated the first half, then adopted a more defensive style in the second, allowing Chaminade (16-4-4, 7-1-2) to carry the play.