For the third year in a row, Cor Jesu Academy has come away with a state championship title in girls soccer. The team was Class 3 State Champions in 2024, and this is their second year of holding the Class 4 State Champions title.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling, and I’m just so glad my teams have gotten the chance to experience it,” head coach Rachel Brcic said. Brcic has been the head coach of Cor Jesu’s soccer team for five years. “In their world, there’s nothing like it. It will always be something to come back to and look at as their high school experience. That’s going to be one of the top memories of high school.”
Not only did the team emerge victorious from the state tournament — which took place over the course of three match-ups from May 30 to June 6 — but Cor Jesu’s soccer team went undefeated this season, too. The team walked away with a record of 25-0.
“We just hope that every time the girls go into a game, they are both physically and mentally ready to play,” Brcic said. “You can’t take any team lightly. I’m really proud of how the girls responded to that. They constantly were focused for each game, and we just had to take it one game at a time.”
Brcic said their winning record added pressure to the team as the season went on without a loss. She shared that Cor Jesu has been the team to break others’ undefeated records in the past, so the students knew firsthand how easily it could happen.
“It got a little stressful. It’s an absolutely incredible feat that the girls had an undefeated season, and I’m incredibly proud of them, but it doesn’t mean that we didn’t have challenges, either,” Brcic said. “We didn’t necessarily lose games, but we got goals scored on us this year that we hadn’t in previous years. Those ended up being our lessons to work on defensively.”
Heading into the state tournament, Cor Jesu had won match-up after match-up for 22 games in a row. Brcic credits much of their success to team chemistry, which the girls created on and off the field. She says that the upperclassmen led the charge in setting the tone for the others, wanting to have a similar experience this year as they had in years before.
“They knew that they had to be physically ready for (the season), but they also knew that we’re more than just a sport,” Brcic said. “It’s about playing for your school, it’s about playing for your teammates. They were very focused on doing the extra to create the team chemistry.”
The highlights of the season, according to Brcic, involved wins against other schools in the Girls Independent School League — Cor Jesu’s conference — like St. Joseph’s Academy, CJA’s rival, and Nerinx Hall.
Cor Jesu kicked off their time in the state tournament by playing St. Joseph’s Academy, who they beat 3-1. St. Joseph’s was the best-known opposing school to the team; Brcic says that the girls didn’t know much about Parkway West or St. Teresa’s Academy and their play styles. But with a 5-2 score, Parkway West fell to Cor Jesu. Cor Jesu shut out St. Teresa’s on June 6 with a score of 5-0, clinching the state champions title.
“When you think back to it, it’s not just their whole season — it’s their whole career that they’ve put on the line when it comes to this,” Brcic said. “Especially for seniors. It’s a whole 18 years of building towards a sport, while also doing the academics. It’s that final moment of relief, but also just pure excitement.”