Mya Townes rarely saw the field for the Champe women’s soccer team this spring as she battled injuries and balanced U.S. youth national team call-ups. But the Georgia commit returned for the U.S. district championship game. Knights at the end of May to boost an already strong roster.
That continued Saturday, when Townes opened the scoring in Virginia‘s Class 4 championship game against James Wood with a header late in the first half and then converted a penalty just before halftime. Lailah Miran’s second-half goal closed out Champe’s 3-0 victory at Western Albemarle High in Crozet, the first state title in program history.
“She scored in every game (since returning) and had a big impact on goals, but our team had been doing very well,” coach Jazmín Cardoso said. “Mya was like an extra addition.”
The Knights’ strong defense turned in a typically dominant performance in shutting out the Colonels (17-2-3). Boosted by Georgia commit Ayda Pannell and anchored by rookie goalkeeper Carilta Wilson, Champe (19-2-2) recorded 17 clean sheets in 23 games and conceded just seven goals.
Champe thrived in his first year at the Class 4 level (he was previously in Class 6) and achieved his goal of winning district and regional championships. After that, the Knights had one last goal: a state title, and they checked that box convincingly on Saturday.
“My motto was ‘make history one step at a time,’ and we went through that all season and were able to do it,” Cardoso said.
McGovern leads Brentsville district to back-to-back titles
Brentsville District senior Peyton McGovern stepped on the penalty spot with five minutes left and her Tigers trailing Western Albemarle by one. With the Class 3 title on the line Saturday at Monticello High in Charlottesville, he converted to send the game to overtime.
There, the Florida State signee attacked again. McGovern unleashed a shot from 30 yards three minutes into extra time that grazed the underside of the crossbar and found the back of the net. A late explosion from their star player had given Brentsville a 2-1 victory and its second straight state title.
“Going into (overtime), we knew we had a chance,” McGovern said. “Once I was able to take my shot from distance and make it, it was an amazing feeling.”
McGovern finished with 32 goals and 26 assists. He closed out his career atop the Tigers’ scoring charts and scored all three goals in the Tigers’ back-to-back state championship wins.
The Tigers (19-2-1) fell 1-0 to the Warriors (19-2-1) in April, but the lessons learned from that game helped cement this team’s place in program history.
“After that game, I said, ‘This game could be the turning point of our season,’” coach Scott Kerns said. “It was invaluable for those kids to come out with confidence and know that we could handle that team and possibly make something great happen.”
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