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As Junior Marissa Lekashman stepped up to take the biggest penalty of her soccer career, 30 years of Encinal Women’s Soccer held its collective breath.
“I was honestly pretty calm about it,” said Lekashman. “I just kept telling myself that I was going to make it because I would start to doubt myself if I said otherwise. I didn't want to put the possibility that I wasn't going to make it out in the universe, you know?”
Lekashman buried her penalty to give the Jets its first NCS playoff win in school history. Encinal tied West County 1-1 on February 15 at Willie Stargell Field before defeating the eighth-seeded Tigers in a shootout.
“[I felt] relieved and really excited. I had a lot of adrenaline at that moment,” said Lekashman.
With the game tied for 0-0 at halftime, there was room for either team to score. Encinals’ spirits were quickly lifted when Junior Angie St. Denis scored midway through the second half. She took advantage of a Jets’ corner and headed home the goal.
“It felt amazing because that was the first time I have scored in an NCS playoff game. It felt great to score for my team and hear people cheering in the stands,” said St. Denis.
St. Denis was injured in the season finale against Hayward and almost didn’t play in the playoff game.
With less than 10 minutes left of the game, West County was awarded a questionable penalty which the Tigers converted to tie the game 1-1. A scoreless overtime pushed the match to shootouts.
“[West County] went into overtime with the confidence of that goal while our energy dropped,” said Sophomore goalie Ila Cantrell. “But we had our pep talk and we stuck it out until shootouts.”
Junior Sadie Merry scored the Jets’ first penalty, but the relief didn’t last long when West County scored their shot as well.
“I’m glad I got to go first and that I scored, had to get it over with,” said Merry.
St. Denis’ kick was saved by West County, but Cantrell made a key save as well, raising Encinal’s spirits.
“Going into shootouts is always nerve racking, especially for the goalie but Ila did so great and I’m so proud of her, we all are,” said Merry.
Lekashman’s kick heard round the island put the Jets into the NCS quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
“I’m so happy for my former teammates and them winning the first round while being undefeated in the league is no surprise to me,” said alumnus Chloe Phan (class of 2021). “I came to watch a few of their games and I’m so proud of every single one of them.”
The Jets went undefeated in league last season as well, but there were no playoffs due to COVID. Encinal last made playoffs in 2019, losing to Acalanes in the first round. The Jets also faced West County in the 2018 playoffs, but lost 6-0.
For the seniors on the team, the Feb. 15 win was the last home match of their careers.
“This season means a lot to me; it’ll will most likely be the last time I ever play competitive soccer, but I think it was a great year to end on,” said Senior Talula Wilmot.
The Jets (12-2-2) continue onto the NCS quarterfinals against The Branson School (18-3-1) on Saturday, February 19th.
Gabby Benaquista contributed to this article.
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