Maybe this is the year

 South Florida Sun-Sentinel

.Unbeaten Gibbons girls flying after first win over St. Thomas

Fort Lauderdale - This time, Margo Flack really means it.

Sure, she's said it before. But something about this team has her really, really believing it.

"I feel like every year we say we have the best team that's ever set foot on a Cardinal Gibbons soccer field," said Flack, in her ninth season as the girls' coach of the Chiefs. "But this year, there's no doubt. They're a different type of team."

Different in the sense that the Cardinal Gibbons girls' are no longer a surprise. Different because they're ranked No. 2 in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association. Different because they've earned wins against some of the state's best.

Different because they've put together the best regular season in school history.

They ended that regular season Wednesday with another historic moment — the Chiefs defeated St. Thomas Aquinas for the first time in school history.

Gibbons got a goal from Sara Trexler in the third minute and hung on for a 1-0 win with goalkeeper Haylee Shoaff recording her 15th shutout.

"They're a scrappy team, and I wish we would have given them a better game," Raiders coach Carlos Giron said. "But I think they have a shot to go to state, and I hope they can win it."

Now it's time for the Chiefs to focus on the playoffs, starting with the District 15-4A tourney. Gibbons, the top seed, plays at No. 8 Hallandale at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

The team's goal is to keep winning. Get through the district tournament. Move through regionals. Bring home a state championship.

It would be the first title — or even state tournament berth — for a program that has made four appearances in the regional finals since 1998but has never advanced to the state tournament.

"We need to be up there with the top teams," said Shoaff, whose goal-against average is 0.38. "It would be amazing. It would be something we've all been striving for."

Last year's team was supposed to be the one that got Gibbons over that hurdle. But a stunning 2-1 overtime loss to Merritt Island at home ended the Chiefs' season in the regional championship with a 19-7-3 record.

With 10 of 11 starters returning, that loss has provided incredible motivation.

"We let our focus down, and it was not a pretty goal," senior defender Jen Crittenberger said.

Flack, who played for and graduated from Gibbons in 1998, has made sure her Chiefs faced some of the toughest competition during the regular season.

There was Wednesday's game against St. Thomas, winner of 10 state titles. A scoreless tie against Class 6A state semifinalist, Melbourne. A 3-1 victory over Douglas, winner of five consecutive championships from 2003-2007. A 2-0 win over Gulliver Prep, another state tournament team.

The success has the Chiefs believing in each other and that, they say, could be the biggest difference this time.

"Beating those teams has shown us we have a chance," said sophomore forward Macy Huskey, who has scored 19 goals this season. "We know we really need to take it seriously. We can be stronger than we were last year. We're here with a [22-0-2] season. That's pretty incredible."