New coach, same result

Oak Mountain’s girls soccer team claimed its second straight state title in dramatic and thrilling fashion, defeating Auburn 2-1 in a shootout in the Class 7A state championship game in Huntsville on May 9.

After finishing regulation play 1-1 and going through two scoreless overtimes, it came down to shootout kicks.

The Eagles (23-3-1) scored on all three of their first kicks while Auburn missed on three of its four, giving Oak Mountain the win.

The Eagles got shootout goals from Alexandra Dunn, Nealy Martin and Julia Pack. After allowing Auburn its first shootout goal, Eagles goalkeeper Katie Denney turned away the rest of the shots.

Pack scored the only goal in regulation for Oak Mountain, but Auburn answered less than a half-minute later to tie the score at 1-1.

Denney, who was named the match’s most valuable player, made five saves.

Auburn finished its season 17-1-1.

This is the third state soccer championship for the Oak Mountain girls, but the first under David DiPiazza. It’s not DiPiazza’s first title, though. He won the 2014 Class 5A girls championship at John Carroll Catholic and won four state boys titles from 2008-2012. In fact, the John Carroll graduate was part of 11 of the school’s 12 state titles as either player, assistant or head coach before leaving.

Coming into an established powerhouse from a powerhouse can lead to great expectations. It’s almost a must-win-a-championship situation. But DiPiazza and his team met the challenge head-on.

“It was pressure,” DiPiazza said. “I was at John Carroll where I was in a comfort zone, had won four with the boys over there and built a girls program, so it was a completely different animal coaching a team that was already at this level as opposed to building a program.

“Honestly, I felt the expectations were high. I never felt like the administration put pressure on me … but obviously my goals were to get this team back to the championship game.”

While it doesn’t always work out when a high-profile coach arrives at an already highly successful program, DiPiazza said the girls bought into his philosophy very quickly.

DiPiazza credits the experience of being there before as a factor once the team made it to Huntsville.

“I don’t know how much the girls felt the pressure,” he said. “I think we were the most experienced team in that Final Four. There were two coaches who had never been to the Final Four and one that been there last year, and then me, who’d been there with a different team last year and my girls had been there …. My seniors won three championships in four years, so I think that really helped us when we got to Huntsville, knowing what to expect.”

That includes things that might seem inconsequential — knowing how to prepare for the games, how to warm up for the games — that are different from the regular season.

“You get breaks in between, you start warming up, then they call you to check you in, and then they make you stand at a gate and you warm up again, and then you play — so we were ready for all that,” DiPiazza said.

“Their experience and my experience made for a pretty good combination.”

Another key along the road to the state title was a crucial shootout win over Vestavia Hills. Goalkeeper Denney was a big factor in that win and the others to the crown. “Our four games, she was huge for us,” DiPiazza said. “We won two of our games in shootouts. The Vestavia shootout went 13 rounds, which is unheard of, and then in the final against Auburn, we only had to take three shots to win the shootout , which is also unheard of, because our goalkeeper saved three out of four shots.”

Having gone through the 13-round shootout with the Rebels just a week before was an advantage. “We were very calm and composed in the final,” DiPiazza said.

“That shootout was the least nervous I was the entire game because I knew I had Katie Denney in goal. And I think our players shot with confidence because they knew they had Katie Denney in goal.”

DiPiazza also singled out some other players who might have flown under the radar.

“Midfielders are probably the most unheralded soccer players there are, because it’s a real workman’s type of role. You’re sitting in front of the defense, sheltering the defense … you don’t get much of a chance to take shots. It’s a real selfless role, and our senior midfielder Sydney Jeter just did a great job with that.

“Of course, Alexandra Dunn, a junior, had a great year for us. Hailey Whitaker, a freshman, just had a standout season. Julia Pack missed most of the season with an injury, but when she came back we really went on a strong run.”

Can the Eagles make it a threepeat? It’s never easy, but the Eagles lose only five seniors, so it would be foolish to count them out for 2016.