On Dec. 26, 2022, the Rosary varsity soccer team headed out to Scottsdale Arizona for the 2022 Arizona High School Soccer Showcase, a tournament they would later win in PK’s 5-4.

The Royals’ first opponent was Chaparral, and the game ended in a 0-0 tie. Although it wasn’t the outcome they hoped for, they clearly didn’t dwell on it because the following day, they beat Desert Vista 2-0 in constant rain. Senior captain Francesca McGuire shared, “Our game against Chaparral wasn’t the best and we all knew it. Instead of putting our heads down, we talked about it later that day, and together as a team, picked up our energy to change the outcome for the following games.”

In the third match, they faced Pinnacle in the semifinals. Up 2-0 in the first 15 minutes of the game, the Royal were feeling confident until Pinnacle came out with a strong second half performance, scoring two goals to tie it up. Fortunately, the Royals came on top and won 3-2 to secure their spot in the championship game against Hamilton.

Not many know this, but this is the very first Rosary team to make it to the finals of the Arizona showcase. The Royals have made it to the semi’s in previous years, but never to the final round. Thus, with absolutely no pressure on their backs, they started the morning off at 7:30 a.m. for a team breakfast before departing to the field at 8 (as they did every morning). They arrived to the field confident as always. Coach Melendez shared, “Not once did our girls look over at their opponents. Instead they did their warm-up and runway routine like nobody was watching… except Hamilton was; not knowing what was about to come.”

The Royals started the first half strong, but let one in, leaving Hamilton in the lead for the second half. However, the Royals didn’t hesitate to tie the game up with a beautiful corner assist by Maddie Encinas ‘24 to Amaya Faison ‘26. With the game coming up close to the end coach Sean Melendez had to think about who he felt most confident in to take a PK. He chose a solid 6 girls to take them and the Royals made all six. Senior goalkeeper Annabella Baretto made a terrific save on their 6th shot, giving the Royals the first ever Arizona Showcase Champions.

This past Saturday, the Royals kicked off their first trinity league game of the 2023 season against Orange Lutheran. Unfortunately they lost 2-0 against the Lancers, but they continue to keep their heads up. Their next game is Thursday Jan. 1, 2023 against JSerra and they can’t wait to battle and leave everything out on the field.