Two years later, the Washington-Liberty Generals broke through and won a much-wanted championship the girls high-school soccer team came so close to capturing the last couple of springs.
In winning the 2024 Liberty District tournament, the No. 2-seed Generals defeated the fourth-seed, defending champion and their top rival Yorktown Patriots, by a 2-1 score in the May 16 title match at W-L.
Yorktown led 1-0, then W-L scored the final two goals, the winner late in the second half.
The district tourney crown is the W-L’s first in some 16 years.
A year ago, Yorktown nipped Washington-Liberty in the district final in penalty kicks after two overtimes. The season before, Yorktown also won the same game over W-L, 1-0.
The Generals were 3-0 in the tournament with two earlier shutouts, stand 11-3-2 overall, have won six straight matches and are unbeaten in their last seven.
Washington-Liberty also defeated Yorktown by a 2-1 score in a regular-season clash 10 days earlier.
Generals' junior defender Danicka Miller said a season-long goal was defeating Yorktown to win the district.
"We knew we had to play our best and finish strong. Every one of us was hungry to do this because we had gotten so close before," said Miller, who will play in college at the University of Pittsburgh. "This is awesome. We were tasting this the whole time."
In the district final, Yorktown led 1-0 at halftime on a goal by Gabriella Wright off an assist from Meri Strazella. The Generals evened the score at 1 when Scarlett Smith scored off an assist from Ella Kaplan 2 minutes into the second half. Abby Welker later scored the game-winner on a breakaway, with Smith assisting. She also scored the game winner with another late goal in the regular-season win over Yorktown.
"It was great to come full circle and beat them. What a moment," Welker said. "This season we had a chip on our shoulders about wanting to beat Yorktown. "It's special to be a senior and go out this way."
Generals' coach Richard Ptakowski said the team was ready to win the district title.
"I think the difference against Yorktown this year was everything was fully in place for us because of hard work and playing together," Ptakowski said. "There's the maturity of the team and understanding the moment now in these games."
The Generals blanked third-seed McLean in the semifinals and sixth-seed Herndon in the first round, both by 3-0 scores.
Kaplan scored on a header and Welker and Lucy Fiensot netted the other goals. Smith, Kaplan and Miller had assists against McLean.
Welker, who will play in college at Case Western Reserve University, had two goals against Herndon, Kaplan scored the other, with Miller having two assists and Smith one.
Charlotte Kulikosky and Harriet Shapiro were in goal during the district-tournament matches for W-L.
The season began well for Washington-Liberty when the team had a 5-0-1 record through six games. Its three losses have been by a goal each.
Welker, Miller and Frances Shapiro were chosen first-team all-district for Washington-Liberty. Kaplan, Smith and Maya Comstock made second team.
Other seniors for W-L were Isabella Carestio, Lila Derr, Sydney Smarth, Keelin McCarty and Sophia Delaney.
Yorktown was 2-1 in the tournament, defeating Langley, 1-0, in the first round then top seed Marshall, 2-0, in the semifinals.
Chosen first-team all-district from Yorktown were Wright, Avery Stell and Abigail Litterst. Making second team were Ellington Emery and Elyse Markowski.
