Both Springwood’s girls and boys soccer teams could come away with a state championship title this Friday in Montgomery.

Both teams are headed to the Final Four this Thursday, playing at the Emory Folmar Soccer Complex in Montgomery. The girls will take the field against Evangel (Alabaster) at 11 a.m. CT/noon ET, followed by the boys against Fort Dale at 1 p.m. CT/2 pm ET. The Lady Wildcats made it to the Final Four after a dominant Elite Eight showing against East Central on Monday, winning 5-0 with goals from Ellie Wolfe, Kate McSpadden and Luna Garcia. The Wildcats made it to the Final Four after Wiregrass forfeited in the Elite Eight round.

The boys currently have a perfect record of 15-0 and look to add two more wins and a state title. Their closest game this season was a 2-0 win against reigning state champion Ezekiel. The girls are now 9-4 and have broken Springwood’s record for the most wins in a season for girls’ soccer. They’re looking to get Springwood’s first state championship in girls’ soccer.

All of this success has been under the helm of new head coach Taylor O’Neill, but he credits the Springwood administration, assistant coaches and his teams for making it all possible.

“The people at the school, the athletic director Coach (Joey) Burch, (Head of School Allyson) Matthews and countless more, have made it so good for me so that I could just focus on the coaching side of things and they kind of look after a lot of everything else. So, I've not really had to worry with too much behind-the-scenes stuff, since I’m still learning the job and everything like that. As much as I'd love to say, ‘Yeah, it’s my tactics, I'm a great coach,’ it’s not me. It’s the players. I tell them the lineup every week, I put them in positions, I work on things with them, but at the end of the day it’s them stepping on the field, those guys decide how much they want to win. So, I can't give enough credit to both teams. They both have incredible seasons up to now, but I don't think either team would be happy with how well they've done if we lose tomorrow or even Friday,” O’Neill said. “My assistant coaches have been absolutely amazing this season and really, really helped me out. All the players love the assistant coaches. They work just as hard as I do to make sure that we have the success that we're having.”

O’Neill says having both teams win it all would be an “incredible feeling.”

“I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but the feeling would be absolutely incredible,” he said. “It would be amazing. I mean, that's the absolute dream. It’s also our goal as a collective. That's what we all want, and we are pushing towards that goal.”

“I’m ridiculously proud,” O’Neill added about his teams. “They’ve earned it. I said at the start of the season, I want to go to the finals with the girls and I want to win it with the boys. I want to improve. But even if the girls go and lose tomorrow, the improvement they've made from even last season to this season is just astronomical. All the hard work that they put in over the last few months has really come to show so I couldn't really ask for a better group of players who are more determined to do as well as they possibly can. They've all got the mindset that they want to win it. They're not happy with the Final Four. They all want to go and win the whole thing. They want to get themselves a ring. And the boys, it’s the same.”

The teams have been led by a talented senior group. The seniors for the Wildcats are James Do, Thor Papera, Nico Burriel, Corbin Clark, Lucas Albani, JJ Barber, Jonas Camp, Adam Baltes, Daniel Nguyen, Cameron Carey, Dave Gondara, Harry Quach, Felipe Moura and Sai Patel. The Lady Wildcats are led by seniors Vega Monsalve, Maddie McEacharn, Ariadna Fernandez and Zoey Andrews.

“I think the senior boys, they've just stepped into role as leaders, and because of that, they've allowed maybe the younger, more inexperienced players, some of the sophomores and juniors, to kind of learn so then when they become the upperclassmen, they can help the next generation of the team. And with the girls, we've only got a few, but, once again, they've been leaders. They've shown everyone how they’re expected to act at the school, on the field,” O’Neill said. “The seniors have been so crucial. Especially for the guys, they've been to the tournament before, they know how it goes. So, they've just been really making sure everyone stays on track and stays focused on the end goal, which is winning all of it.”

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