'Never easy': Miege girls reach state title 6-peat with win over Buhler, surviving McPherson in semis

For the sixth straight Class 4-1A girls soccer state championship game, Bishop Miege has left the field as the victors. The Stags took this six title with a 5-0 victory over Buhler Saturday, May 28 at Hummer Sports Park in Topeka.

If you count the Miege boys program, Stags soccer head coach Nate Huppe has helmed 12 straight state titles. Both programs are tied for the third-longest title streak in state history behind the eight straight championships that St. Thomas Aquinas boys won from 2003-2010 (two in Class 6A, six in Class 5A) and seven straight from Aquinas girls from 2010-16.

"Unbelievable," Huppe said. "We're so happy and proud of our kids, especially our five seniors."

Huppe knows that some people think what his soccer programs have done is easy, or more precisely too easy.

Huppe disagrees.

"It's very remarkable what our program's doing," he said. "It's not easy. It's never easy. People think that it is and I don't know why."

Looking at the final score of this one, people might walk away with the same impression. But Buhler battled Miege to a halftime stalemate before the Stags blew the doors off in the second half.

Miege controlled the action and created a number of scoring opportunities, but Buhler's defense and playing into the 20 mile per wind stopped the Stags stopped from getting the ball into the net.

"I think we kind of knew that we needed one and they would hopefully just keep coming after that," Miege senior Ella Howard said.

Once Miege switched sides though, the offense started to click and almost couldn't miss.

Senior team captain Lissy Fahlstrom scored on an assist from sophomore Dory Latenser a few minutes into the second half, kicking off a run of four goals in 10 minutes.

"We went crazy (after Fahlstrom's goal)," Howard said. "There was also a sense of, 'Whew.' There's a lot of relief that went with that because whoever gets the first goal, it changes the game by a lot."

Fahlstrom's goal kicked off a run of four goals in 10 minutes. Howard found junior Jojo Valdivia on a corner kick around the 33-minute mark, followed a minute later by Latenser knocked in a header off a shot by sophomore Rose Harden that bounced off the crossbar. To complete the flurry of scores, Howard converted a penalty kick after Latenser was fouled inside the box.

Miege notched one more goal with 15 minutes left in regulation. Latenser secured a Buhler goal kick, sending the ball from distance back at the goal and into the net.

Miege's toughest test was in the semifinals. McPherson scored an early goal that the Stags matched shortly before halftime.

"We knew against McPherson that it was going to be a battle. It always is with them," Huppe said. "It was back and forth."

Howard said being down a goal put a lot of pressure on her team.

"You end up chasing a lot if you don't score first," Howard said. "I know that we kind of got a little flustered and a little nervous, but as soon as we got ourselves together, we got our goal. … It took so much pressure off."

The defenses held strong through two overtimes, forcing the match to be decided via penalty kicks. Miege went 4 of 4 in PKs while Stags goalkeeper Livi Shull stopped two of the shots against her.

Even with three state titles over her high school career, Howard said shooting her penalty kick against McPherson might have topped her list of favorite moments.

"It was a really great moment, just to feel the energy of your team and your fans around you," Howard said. "Going up there, knowing that you're representing your team and that you've got to make this to win. And making it, there's no better feeling."

Miege and McPherson had a similar battle last year in the state semifinals, except that match ended regulation scoreless. The Stags finished that one with a goal in double overtime.

In this year's third-place game, McPherson took down Cair Paravel 3-2.

Huppe has two active six-peats between the boys and girls programs. Huppe also won three more state titles as an assistant coach, including two with the boys program when his father Joe was the head coach.

Huppe said this win stood out over the others because of the more balanced roster. He said this team did not have the type of star player on offense, such as Sophia Stram and Emily Carrasco, that the Stags have relied on in years past. Miege had 15 different players score a goal and 22 different players register an assist this season.

"It was more so to score by committee," Huppe said. "We built our team with our defense, and that's with replacing last year's goalkeeper of the year in the state, defender of the year

Huppe said this team was largely built upon the strength of its defense, despite needing to replace the all-state midfielder of the year, defender of the year and goalkeeper of the year. Huppe picked out goalkeeper Livi Shull as a likely candidate to bring one of those awards home for Miege this year after helping keep the Stags as one of the toughest teams to score against in the state.

"We did it with returning players and players coming up from JV and freshman who got up to varsity," Huppe said. "It was a completely different team than we built last year."

Huppe credited the team's tough regular-season schedule, particularly facing Eastern Kansas League foes, in helping the Stags prepare for title contention, even in years with high-turnover on the roster. The Eastern Kansas League has swept all three girls soccer state titles for each of the past five seasons.

"We take the ups and downs in the regular season," Huppe said. "We get knocked down. We get right back up. We play the toughest schedule in the state. … When you challenge a bunch of 15-, 16-, 17-, 18-year-old girls with that type of schedule every single week, it just automatically makes you ready for the postseason."

The Stags will need to replace a few more players this year with the graduation of Howard, Fahlstrom, Bella Barraza, Emily Lynn and Mayah Haug.

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