Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: SHP’s Leah Lynch

Lynch had only scored three goals on the year, but one of them was earlier in the game, a clutch equalizer in the 72nd minute to reinvigorate SHP’s hopes of winning its first-ever Nor Cal title. And even though she’d never scored a multi-goal game in three years of varsity soccer, she willed herself to win the moment.

“‘OK,’” Lynch said to herself, “‘this is my last chance to ever score a high school goal.’”

With SHP senior Camy Sheldon lofting in a perfectly placed ball toward the back post, Lynch emerged from the mix. And in willing herself to win the moment, the Daily Journal Athlete of the Week willed her Gators to their historic first Nor Cal championship as she connected for a top-shelf header into the right corner.

“All the parents were going crazy,” Lynch said, “and I really just couldn’t believe it.”

The disbelief lasted well after the final whistle, and even after the relatively small Gator Nation contingent celebrated, yet again, among the dense masses of fiery Fresno Christian fans.

“We joked as we got onto the bus,” Sacred Heart Prep head coach Armando Del Rio said. “‘It’s funny she’d be discouraged she didn’t score more goals during the season, but that she scored our two most important goals of the year.’”

Lynch served a mixed role for the Gators this season. She moved off her natural position at center back early in the year to help create chances for junior striker Lauryn Masetti. Throughout the year, however, Del Rio was juggling lineups and couldn’t seem to settle on one that worked until the postseason was approaching.

Even then, SHP wasn’t exactly impressing anyone as a Nor Cal contender, settling for a 8-7-3 overall record in the regular season.

“I knew we would ultimately earn a place and kind of punch our ticket into CCS,” Del Rio said. “Honestly, we didn’t know — I think we were the type of team, we felt like we could beat anyone, but we could kind of drop points to anyone at any time.”

SHP went on to dominate in the Central Coast Section Division V tournament, outscoring KIPP Navigate, Notre Dame-San Jose and North Monterey County by a cumulative score of 17-0. It wasn’t exactly uncharted territory for the Gators, who have now won six CCS titles all-time. It was a reprieve for the current roster, however, as SHP fell in the 2022-23 CCS Division IV finals, and got knocked knocked out of the opening round of the Division I tournament last season.

Earning the No. 3 seed in the Nor Cal tournament didn’t do the Gators justice, Del Rio said.

“It was kind of like the Golden State Warriors,” Del Rio said. “If you’re a high seed, you don’t want to play us.”

One of the reasons was Lynch moving to outside back for the Gators to take advantage of her ability to run the field. After SHP’s Nor Cal victories of 5-0 over No. 6 Sonoma Valley, and 3-0 over No. 2 Soquel, Del Rio had no reason to line it up any differently.

That changed when the Gators found themselves trailing after No. 1-seed Fresno Christian broke a 1-1 tie on penalty kick by senior Abigail Kathleen Herren.

Del Rio responded by moving Lynch up front.

“I’m used to seeing the whole field,” Lynch said. “So when he put me at 9 ... I was wondering why he was doing that because first. That’s not my strong suit positionally. I thought that I could help the team more in the back.”

The move paid off 15 minutes later. Junior Lewa White took an initial shot from over 20 yards away, and put enough pepper on it to force a deflection by the Fresno Christian keeper. As White was on her approach, Lynch had already closed toward goal, covering a lot of ground, Del Rio said.

“She was pretty active all game, so it was kind of the perfect goal in terms of: ‘I’m getting there before anybody else,’” Del Rio said.

When White’s attempt was deflected back into play, Lynch was right there to capitalize.

“She’s really good at deep shots,” Lynch said. “Their goalie was probably one of the best goalies we’ve played against this season ... and she was able to get like a fingertip on it. ... I was kind of just right there ... and I saw it bounce off. I don’t think I even had to move that much, I just kind of poked it in.”

The celebrating Gators still had work to do, though, and they knew it.

“Everyone was freaking out, but then we couldn’t celebrate too long because we didn’t have too much time,” Lynch said.

SHP had produced several great chances on corners earlier in the day, but the timing wasn’t quite right. That’s when the will of the kid met the skill of the kid, and Lynch — who is committed to play NCAA Division I women’s soccer next season at University of Pennsylvania — delivered one of the most important goals in Gators history.

“Camy was serving up perfect balls and there was just a millimeter where the timing was just a little bit off,” Del Rio said, “and this last one, it was another perfect corner. You could see it in slow motion, and Leah timing it perfectly, and then putting it in the upper corner.”

Just over a minute later, the Gators got to celebrate all-out.

“When the whistle blew, everyone just ran on the field,” Lynch said. “Everyone was in tears.”