Jordan Leandre is a student journalist at Arizona State University assigned to cover Arcadia High School for AZPreps365.com

It was a tale of two halves, but in the end, the Arcadia High School girls soccer team was upset 1-0 at home by Catalina Foothills in the round-of-16 of the AIA 5A Conference State Championship Tournament.

The Titans dominated possession in the first half, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. They created plenty of scoring chances, but Catalina Foothills goalkeeper Grace Shoemaker wouldn’t let one through.

“[Shoemaker] made a fantastic save on Mia Sowders’ shot that would’ve given us the lead,” Arcadia’s head coach Adam Zweiback said. “We were very upbeat at halftime. We just didn’t put the ball in the net.”

Sowders, whose 18 goals this season led Arcadia, had a chance from the middle of the box and fired a bullet on net in the 37th minute, but Shoemaker dove and got a hand on it to make the save, and the score remained deadlocked at zero at halftime.

“I think we got a little too calm, and I think we got a little too confident,” said Sowders, who will be playing soccer at the University of Wisconsin next fall.

Sowders added that they made a lot of good passes through mid-field, but they just couldn’t get the last tap-in. That and tired legs helped flip the field in the Falcons favor when the teams resumed play for the second half. The game remained scoreless until senior Rylie Crane broke the tie in the 74th minute with a shot over the leaping Titans goalkeeper, Delaney DeBusk.

“I just knew if we could hold them to 0-0 at half, we could get some momentum going into the second half, and hopefully just get a quick break and score,” Crane said. “And that’s what ended up happening.”

Following the goal, Arcadia brought pressure, forcing Shoemaker into another big, timely save in the 76th minute.

“We were almost too relaxed scoring that goal. It got a little crazy,” Crane said.

However, despite the defeat, Zweiback said this has been one of his favorite teams to coach out of the 10 he’s been a part of.

“This was, without a doubt, the most positive attitude, the best comradery,” Zweiback said. “We had some really talented players who are going to play Division I soccer. And then we have girls who aren’t nearly experienced … We had players step up who had been, kind of, subs last year and they had to get in there.”

Zweiback also mentioned that the three Sowders sisters—senior Mia, junior Riley and sophomore Quinn—came in for their first season and “really energized our program.”

Mia Sowders also echoed Zweiback’s sentiment about the bond this team had, applauding the hard work from everyone on the roster.

“We’d work every single day. We would work hard, and I think everyone put the time in,” said Mia Sowders. “I just think it was a good group of girls and I think I learned a lot.”