By Junious Smith III

Arendell Parrott Academy has made significant strides in girls’ soccer over the years, with Tuesday providing another significant milestone.

The Patriots defeated St. David’s 2-0 in the regular-season finale, clinching a share of the team’s first conference championship. APA is now 12-3 on the season heading into postseason play, where the team has reached the NCISAA state semifinals the past two years.

“I’m truly proud of our team, especially the senior class here,” APA coach Shivar Person said. “They have won the most games in our program’s history with 57 over the past four years, which is unbelievable.”

There are only four seniors on the team — Gabby Carriere, Karmen Heath, Brooke Holmes and Lindsey Thomas — but all of them have been fueled by a passion to get advance further after falling to eventual champion Asheville Christian 2-1 at home in the semifinals.

“It’s been exciting playing at Parrott over the past four years,” Thomas said. “We had a great opportunity last year and got close, so we’re looking to do better this season.”

Heath expressed similar sentiments.

 “We’re really determined to get it after being so close last year,” Heath said. “We know it’s going to be tough, but we’re ready.”

Holmes said the quartet understands the importance of this postseason.

“This is our last year together, so we’re definitely ring chasing,” Holmes said. “We won’t have another opportunity like this, so we’ve got to play our best.”

Carriere said it’ll take great effort to make dreams a reality.

“Hopefully we can keep working hard and put ourselves into that position,” Carriere said. “As long as we play like we have all year, we can do it.”

Person said the combination of veteran leadership and talent have come together well.

“It’s definitely a process,” Person said. “The girls wanted it so bad and came in with a different mentality this season. We had finished second or third in our conference the past couple years, but were fourth in the state. Hopefully, this will help motivate the girls to make it to the state championship game—we just have to make it and anything can happen from there.”