Sports

PCDS Women’s Soccer: Journey to the State Championship

Elvia Hernandez, Staff Writer • March 31, 2026

First game of the season

Regular Season

At the beginning of the 2025-2026 season, the women’s soccer team welcomed seven new freshmen and one new senior onto the team. Returning sophomores, juniors, and seniors were ready to take on Kosower Field.

The season began with a loss at home field against Glendale Preparatory Academy. The score was 3-1.

The women’s soccer team developed the depth of the team and learned how to play alongside each other during practices and games. This allowed them to win every single game after the unfortunate home opener, minus a game against Northwest Christian – a 3A team.

As a result of the great season, PCDS’s women’s soccer team is ranked number 1 in the Arizona Conference 2A rankings.

The regular season concluded with a match against Cicero Preparatory Academy. The soccer team was 7-0. Notably, this game also included a celebration for the beloved seniors of the team.

Reflecting on her senior night, Talia Pruitt said, “I felt a wave of emotions. A lot of nostalgia and sadness. Actually feeling like it was our senior night and knowing that next year I am not going to be with the same community and the same group of girls. I think that was a really big thing for me, just knowing how much love and support we have on the team.”

Sports teams can’t advance unless there is unity and support from the inside.

Playoffs

To some, a playoff game can feel like another regular season game, but to others, it is the intense start of the journey to states. A loss in the playoffs means soccer season is over. On Feb. 10 at 3:45 pm, the women’s PCDS soccer team went up against North Phoenix Preparatory Academy.

Team captain Rainey Hackett recalled that the lead up to the game was “nerve-wracking” because of past losses the team had experienced. The farthest the PCDS women’s soccer team had advanced to in the last three years was to quarterfinals during the 22/23 and 24/25 seasons.

Despite the two losses in the regular season, Hackett said, “We were a completely different team before winter break vs. after winter break and so I feel like I knew we had a pretty good shot at playoffs.”

With confidence and a few shivers PCDS took the win with a final score of 2-0 and advanced to quarterfinals once again.

Quarterfinals

It was Valentine’s Day morning as Scottsdale Preparatory Academy and PCDS players began to trickle in. PCDS Coach Gabriel Penaloza arrived on the pitch at 11 am to begin setting up warm up. As Penaloza walked to mark the length of the Rondos, an Eagle walked by and said, “Hey coach, how are you?”

“Hey Eagle, I’m good. It’s a beautiful day. Nice weather. How about you?”

Coach P was as calm and collective as always, waiting for kick-off.

The Eagles began their pre-game ritual: arrive at 11 am, get cleats on, start passing with a friend. Then, they moved onto “Pass and Turn,” which is a series of movements of passing the soccer ball, running to the next cone, receiving the ball and then turning 180 degrees to pass to the person across. After a few minutes of this exercise, the eagles moved onto a dynamic warm up. Stretching hamstrings, moving hip joints, and rolling ankles, anything to avoid a cramp during the game. Lastly, the Eagles practice on their shooting and defending.

The refs called for captains. Seniors Rachel Burns, Rainey Hackett, and Talia Pruitt jogged to the center of the field to meet the refs and opposing team captains.

With two minutes left until kick-off, the Eagles finished their final stretches in and sips of hydration. The starting line-up was announced, with just seconds left until both teams played. The timer hit 0.

The game was intense. Every Eagle was on high alert, understanding that winning this game would make PCDS history.

Senior Tiera Williams, reflected upon her emotions during the game: “In the beginning you know we were tied, we were one to one. It took us a little while to get back. But during overtime, I think that was one of the best games that we ever locked in.”

Williams mentioned that the Eagles were able to take a win of 5-1 against SPA because the “chemistry this year as a team is very good. Everyone is pretty connected for the most part.” The positive atmosphere of the women’s soccer team has allowed players to be confident not only within themselves but each other as well. When observing matches, a spectator can see that the eagles do not get aggressive with each other, but rather try to keep each other going and voice words of encouragement, especially from the beloved bench.

Semifinals

On Feb. 17, the Eagles and Kingman Academy’s Tigers played against each other for the spot to the State Championship.

As nerves crept up, the women’s soccer team had to prepare for a good game ahead.

Freshman Dylan Tedesco emphasized the importance that a good night of sleep has on her playing, while Freshman Alexis Vella added that in order to prepare for a big game, she tries to not overthink too much.

Goalkeeper Natalia Ré shared, “I just remember seeing Kingman Academy as the first seed for the first half of the season. So that kind of scared me. Especially since we don’t know any of the teams that they played so I can’t really compare them to how good we’d be against them.”

Tedesco added, “I was definitely nervous but I was also excited to play them because I think we needed a good match up.”

Kick off was at 3:30 pm. The play was steady and both teams made good passes. Around the 10 minute mark, PCDS junior Brooke Velle scored the game’s first goal with an assist from sophomore Mira Baraff. 12 minutes later, Kingman Academy scored. The first half of the game remained 1-1.

About six minutes into the second half, Team Captain Rachel Burns scored the Eagles’ second goal with a pass from Dylan Tedesco. Nearly four minutes later, Tedesco scored the third goal.

Not even two whole minutes later, Kingman Academy scored their second goal.

With 19 minutes left of the semifinal game, Tedesco and Burns scored the rest of PCDS’s six goals.

The sound of the whistle invited the Eagles to celebrate their win and to shake off hands with Kingman Academy’s tigers. The Eagles celebrated their win with dinner at In-and-Out.