In a sport like soccer, where scoring margins are usually slim and a match can turn on an odd bounce, unpredictable deflection or one errant pass, the numbers just don’t favor an unbeaten streak that goes on for two years.
Unfortunately for the Wakeland girls soccer team, the numbers caught up with the Wolverines on Friday in the state championship game. Wakeland lost 3-1 to Cedar Park in the 5A Division II championship at Birkelbach Stadium in Georgetown.
“It hurts right now,” Wakeland coach Jimmie Lankford said after the game, “but we had an incredible two-year run. It just wasn't meant to be today.”
Cedar Park scored two goals in the first 10 minutes and led 3-0 at the half, and although Wakeland had some good scoring chances in the second half, the Wolverines didn’t score until Lily McCalmont’s goal with less than four minutes left.
The ending hurt, but as Lankford told the players after the game, the final loss doesn’t change the memories of this season and last.
The loss snapped Wakeland’s 54-game unbeaten streak that stretched back to the 2023 playoffs. Wakeland, which was trying to win its fifth state title in program history, finished the season with a 25-1-1 record. The Wolverines won the 5A title last year, finishing with a 26-0-3 record, and also won state titles in 2011, 2018 and 2022.
Cedar Park (25-2-1), which lost to Wakeland earlier in the season, played an inspired match. Wakeland had 13 shots on goal to seven for Cedar Park, but the new state champ made the most of its chances.
“We’re always going to be somebody’s best game,” Lankford said. “They’re going to attack us because we’re at the top of the mountain.”
Wakeland is still near the top of the mountain, and the goal for the Wolverines next season will be to return to the summit.
“The expectation is to be back here,” Lankford said.
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