by Maya Agnihotri
The fall sports program has been exceptionally strong this year. Every CA varsity team received first or second place finish within the TISAC conference.
After a dramatic 2-1 overtime victory over conference rival Durham Academy, the field hockey team was undefeated in conference play and won their first outright TISAC championship. The team made it to the semi-finals and finished third in the state.
Said senior Alex Jones: “The team had AMAZING chemistry, it was the best season in CA history.”
The girl’s tennis team finished the season in second place in the conference and went highly seeded into State competition. They finished second in States after a tough battle against Durham Academy.
Coach Melanie Bryant was back as the coach of the volleyball team and the girls had a great season. They placed second behind last year’s state champion, North Raleigh Christian in the TISAC. They reached the semi-finals in the State championship and tied for third.
The 3rd year girl’s golf team had its best season under coach Roxanne Hicklin. The team is 8-2 overall and went into States ranked sixth.
The boys and girls cross country teams had a strong team this year. The girls won back-back conference and state titles and had high expectations this year. After six consecutive TISAC titles, last year’s boys cross country team was derailed by injuries at the conference meet. To close out this year, both the boys and girls claimed runner-up status at the State championship.
Said senior Athina Zodl: “Despite so many things against us, the team managed to successfully work around it. We had our eyes on a State Championship title this entire season so it was hard to lose at such a close margin. However, we had to keep reminding ourselves that second in the state is not so bad! Individually Ava Lathan came state-runner up with a great PR and l also claimed an all-state title.”
Boys soccer ranked seventh seed in the States tournament, a huge improvement of the past two years. They took second place in the TISAC conference. They had a few big victories against DA-Senior Night, Ravenscroft in overtime and Providence day the first play-off win since 2011.
Said senior Enoch Kuan: “Our season was a success in my book. After missing playoffs for the past two years, we got ranked a solid seventh seed in the tournament. We also took second place in the TISAC conference. Our last game of the season was my favorite. After losing to number 2 seed Wesleyan 4-0 last time we played them. We fought hard and barely lost 3-2 in the quarter-finals of the tournament.”
