By: Noah Goldman

Going into the 2023 soccer season at Seattle Academy, the JVC soccer team, who did not win a game the year before, was expected to have a similar season. 1A soccer does not have a JVC League, meaning the SAAS team would have to compete in their league games against only JV teams during their 2023 regular season. Even the players on the team were not expecting to achieve anything, with an idea stuck in their heads that the season was over before it had even begun. This all changed with the first game of the season against Eastside Prep. When the game started, they did not have high hopes. This devastating feeling intensified when Eastside Prep scored the opening goal, putting the team at a disadvantage early into the game. The first goal was not the end, though, as moments later, striker Alex Goff scored the first goal for the cardinal season, which tied the game, completely shifting the momentum. JVC was sitting comfortably with a 3-1 lead two goals later, which was how the game ended. This win boosted motivation for the rest of the season as the team was able to destroy their past beliefs and now truly believed they could achieve something special. The season continued with a 5-1 win against Kings, a 2-1 comeback win against Bush finished with a last-second game-winner from Zayn Pastakia, a 5-2 thriller against U Prep, and a comfortable 3-0 win against Sultan where unfortunately the teams' star goalkeeper Evan Williamson was injured taking him out for the rest of the season. This injury harshly affected the JVC season as the next game, the team had their worst game of the season, taking a brutal 4-1 loss to U Prep, ending the team's undefeated season making the JVC cardinals 5 and 1, but hope was not lost as the SAAS JV team who was 1st in the league rescheduled 2 of their regular season games for friendly games against Lincoln High School meaning that SAAS JVC only needed one win and one tie to win the league. This was far from easy, though, as the team had just come off a tough loss, and their next two games were expected to be their most challenging of the season. The team's next match was against Highline High School, the top non-SAAS team in the league. The game ended at 3-3, meaning JVC would need a win against Eastside Prep if they wanted to win the league. Unfortunately, two of the JVC captains were unable to make it to the game, meaning the team had to make it work in some of the most difficult circumstances, and unfortunately… Eastside prep had a very bad day, losing to a weakened SAAS JVC 2-1, clinching the league title for the underdogs with an achievement that had never been done before. SAAS JVC is now the first and only JVC team to win the JV league title, marking their name down in the history books for many years to come.

To follow the team's journey, you can follow Cardinalsjvcboyssoccer on Instagram.

Photo Credit: Dan Goldman