Worth the wait: Chapin girls soccer wins first state championship in a decade
The wait was worth it for the Chapin Eagles girls soccer team.
After back-to-back runner-up finishes the last two seasons and then having to endure a more than four-hour delay to start their match Saturday, the Eagles are state champions.
Avery Stoner scored two goals as Chapin defeated Eastside 4-0 in the Class 5A Division II state championship at Memorial Stadium.
It was Chapin’s second state championship in eight title-game appearances. The Eagles’ other championship came in 2016, when the school was in Class 3A.
The Eagles lost to Clover in 2024 and then Eastside in overtime last season.
“I joked with my friends that I didn’t want to be the Marv Levy of girls soccer,” Chapin coach Chad Bridges said, referring to the former Buffalo Bills head coach who lost four Super Bowls. “To get here is good and that shows you where our program is. But to win it gets you over the hill. Someone said run the town, run the region. But for this year, we will run this state. I am so thankful for that.”
Bridges and Stoner talked about the team’s motto, “FAITH,” which was printed on T-shirts worn throughout the season. That faith was shown in pregame and throughout the match.
“We had faith in Christ, our fans had faith in us, and we had faith in each other,” Stoner said. “Stepping out on that field, we showed we had faith in each other, and we buried them in the net.”
The Eagles, who had to replace eight seniors (five starters) from last year’s team, were dominant in their title run and allowed just nine goals this year. Chapin won its final 14 matches of the season.
The start of the match was delayed more than four hours because of two earlier matches going into overtime and then a weather delay of more than three hours as heavy rain moved through Columbia.
Bridges said they passed the time by playing UNO, hanging out and eating snacks.
Once the match started, Chapin looked ready against Eastside, which was making its fifth straight championship appearance.
Chapin dominated most of the early part of the match and finally capitalized when Sydney Stoner headed in a corner kick to make it 1-0 in the 14th minute. Two minutes later, Avery Stoner scored to make it 2-0.
Avery Stoner made it 3-0 with a goal less than four minutes into the second half. The sophomore has 21 goals on the season, second most on the team.
Junior Liz Kujawa added a goal in the 56th minute to make it 4-0.
“I am glad these girls get to see the other side and what it means to win a state championship,” Bridges said. “… This has been a three-year run trying to play for the girls who graduated. I am so thankful we got back here and got the gold medal, not the silver. It is very satisfying and so happy for the girls.”
