Huntersville’s Christ the King School repeats as North Carolina girls soccer state champ

Huntersville’s Christ the King is a North Carolina girls soccer state champion again.

The Crusaders repeated as N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A state champions, winning 1-0 against Woods Charter on Sunday at UNC-Greensboro. Christ the King also beat Woods Charter of Chapel Hill, 3-0, in the 2022 state final.

This year’s final was closer, score-wise, but Christ the King controlled play and the ball was constantly on the Woods Charter side of the field.

The game began Saturday night but was postponed after five minutes of play due to lightning. When play resumed Sunday, Christ the King brought continual pressure on the Woods Charter goal.

After a scoreless first half, Christ the King scored off a free kick with 35:47 left to play.

Senior Elle Gorman hooked in a free kick from just outside the box on the right side. Junior Brianna Pacholski’s header off Gorman’s kick gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead.

With less than four minutes to go, Woods Charter had a free kick that was just tapped over the goal by Christ the King junior goalie Elizabeth Navola.

Christ the King finished the season 17-2-3. The Crusaders finished second in their conference behind Pine Lake Prep and won their final five games. Christ the King’s boys soccer team repeated as 1A state champs last fall.

Woods Charter, which had a four-game win streak snapped, finished 20-2-3.

This was the 10th straight year a N.C. charter school or non-boarding parochial has won the 1A state championship and the fifth straight year that team has come from the Charlotte area. Previous champions include Christ the King (2022), Community School of Davidson (2021) and Union Academy (2018-19)