One of the nation’s best: Meet The Charlotte Observer’s girls’ prep team of the year

Providence Day’s girls’ soccer team finished the year ranked No. 2 in MaxPreps’ national poll.

The Chargers, the N..C. Independent Schools’ state champions, are the 2023-24 Charlotte Observer girls’ high school team of the year.

This is the third year the media outlet has offered year-end awards to the top athletes, coaches and teams in its circulation area.

“When you go out, you might as well go out big,” Providence Day star Jaida McGrew.

McGrew, a junior, scored three goals in Providence Day’s 3-1 win against Charlotte Latin in the state finals last month. Providence Day (24-1-1) was ranked No. 2 in the nation heading into the match, and moved to No. 1 for a few weeks after.

Charlotte Latin, seeking back-to-back state titles, was No. 11 nationally before the championship game.

Charlotte Latin held Providence Day star Blane McElroy, The Observer’s player of the year, without a goal. In her previous 25 games, McElroy — a high school All-American — had 39 goals and 31 assists.

But the Hawks could not stop McGrew, a Mountain Island Charter transfer who plans to compete with the U.S. 17-and-under national team this summer.

McGrew scored in the 19th minute of the state final, giving her team a halftime lead. Providence Day also led Latin 1-0 in the 2023 state final at the break but lost 2-1.

“It was something I mentioned to the team at halftime (in the ‘24 final),” Providence Day coach Dan Dudley said.

With 26 minutes to play, Charlotte Latin’s Eleanor Fisher tied the game. But McGrew scored about three minutes later and added the put away goal with 2:06 to play.

“It was a rugged game,” Dudley said. “Actually, it wasn’t an attractive game to watch, but it had its moments. The best way I can describe our team is that they were brave.”

That game ended a four-year run where Providence Day is 83-6-1.

This season, the Chargers outscored opponents 118-13. In their final seven games, Providence Day gave up one goal, while scoring 39.

Next season, McGrew won’t return. She plans to graduate early and enroll at Florida State. But McElroy and his younger sister, Devin, will return along with the bulk of the top players from the 2024 state championship team.

Devin McElroy (16 goals) was third on the team behind McGrew (26) and Blane McElroy.

“We have a lot to be excited about,” Dudley said. “We lose a good group of seniors, but we have a lot of players coming back.”