Amity's historic girls soccer season ends in semifinals

Rusty Rae/News-Register##Amity goalkeeper Kylie Kendall fights back tears while hugging a teammate after the Warriors' 6-0 loss to Catlin Gabel in the state semifinals.

Rusty Rae/News-Register##Catlin Gabel celebrates after another goal, one that helped beat Amity and send the Eagles to their third straight state title game.

Rusty Rae/News-Register##The Amity girls walk hand-in-hand across the pitch to their supporters, who cheered for them throughout the season, after their loss in the state semifinals.

Moments after the final whistle blew in Amity’s state semifinal on Tuesday, a 6-0 loss to two-time defending champions Catlin Gabel, the Warriors made their way to their bench.

After some hugs and a brief message, the girls linked hands, and made their way across the pitch as a team to a crowd of supporters, a mix of parents and students who made the trip to Portland to cheer them on.

While the loss itself stung, the mood wasn’t somber, rather celebratory of the season they had and the relationships they had built.

“The soccer was great,” coach Andy Dyer said with a smile and tears in his eyes. “But the team itself, that’s what I’ll remember the most.

“Just the unity and the camaraderie and the togetherness that they’ve had. That’s been the best for this team. I think that’s the most memorable.”

Amity put together its best season in program history, going 15-2-2 and advancing to the state semifinals before running into the buzz saw that is Catlin Gabel, which is now playing for its third-straight and state-best 16th title.

After the Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute, the Warriors pushed hard for an equalizer, earning multiple corner kicks and taking a few shots, but none of them were on target.

After failing to capitalize, however, Catlin Gabel pulled away, scoring three times in five minutes before halftime to take a 4-0 lead into the break.

From there, the outcome was never in doubt, and the Eagles tacked on two more in the second half to put it further out of reach.

It was Amity’s first loss since their season opener at the end of August, a sign of the growth and development that the girls went through over the course of the season.

“I take credit just because I’m the coach a little bit, but it’s really these girls,” Dyer said. “They’ve stepped up all season. And they just learned and learned and learned a lot and they’ve progressed so much that, I mean they deserve most of the credit.”

Through tears, goalkeeper Kylie Kendall shared a similar sentiment. Kendall hadn’t played competitive soccer in eight years but decided to come back and play when she heard the team needed a keeper.

Nineteen games later, Kendall was nothing but grateful for not only the opportunity but the team she has come to call a family.

“Our team dynamic, we really treat each other like family, and it was a really good sisterhood,” Kendall said, before pointing out Coach Dyer. “We had the best coach, I’d say the best coach in the whole state right now.”

As fans and players continued to share hugs and memories, Kendall made sure to note how appreciative the team was for their continued support, especially in the postseason.

“It was nice knowing that our community is backing us up on all these games,” Kendall said. “It just means a lot for us because we needed all the support that we could get, especially coming this far.”

With five seniors graduating, including Kendall, the team will look different next season, but Dyer is excited for how the returners will build off of this experience, not only on the pitch but off of it.

“Few games ago as we broke, instead of saying team we started saying family,” Dyer said. “And that’s what we feel like. I love all these girls.”

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