High School Sports

Sidwell Friends girls’ soccer has plenty to celebrate in 6-0 win over Maret in DCSAA final

The Quakers ran away with the DCSAA final Sunday, earning a 6-0 win. (Michael Errigo/The Washington Post)

By Michael Errigo

Yesterday at 5:58 p.m. EST

Gemma Maltby watched the ball slip by the goalkeeper, then turned around looking for a teammate to hug. The Sidwell Friends midfielder had just built her team’s lead to three goals, big enough to all but ensure a D.C. State Athletic Association championship victory.

Maltby was met by a parade of teammates, each being welcomed with open arms to what became a large group hug. On a cloudy and cold Sunday afternoon at Catholic University’s Carlini Field, the soon-to-be champions looked both happy and warm as they created one big maroon mass of celebration.

It was one of many for the Quakers, who earned a dominant 6-0 victory over Maret — the most lopsided win in the decade-long history of this game — to capture the second DCSAA title in program history.

St. Albans boys’ soccer shows its growth, beats St. John’s to capture DCSAA title

This is the fourth straight season Sidwell (13-4) has made it to the final, with its lone previous victory coming in 2018. In 2017 and 2019, the team fell to St. John’s, champion of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference this fall. But the Quakers got their revenge in the semifinals, beating the Cadets, 2-1.

“Winning this our freshman year, we wanted to make it a full circle moment,” Maltby said. “And we’ve had a great week leading up to this. A lot of team bonding, a lot of team meals and dancing.”

Senior forward Kiki Rice scored both goals in that semifinal victory as well as both goals in the victorious 2018 final. So it felt appropriate for Sunday’s championship to open with a goal by Rice, slotted to the left of the goalkeeper just three minutes into the match.

Rice is a two-sport star, having earned Gatorade D.C. player of the year for both basketball and soccer in previous seasons. This month, she committed to UCLA for basketball. But her soccer prowess was on full display Sunday as she finished with two goals.

“We talked a lot during the preseason about how we could maximize our success with this much talent,” Rice said. “We all wanted to go out with a bang.”

Maltby, who set up Rice’s early goal, added the first of her three just before halftime. After her second goal gave Sidwell a three-goal lead with 25 minutes remaining, the Quakers kept pressing for another. They got it 10 minutes later when junior Ava Johnson made the score 4-0. Rice added another for good measure with 10 minutes remaining.

The third-seeded Frogs (13-5) were making the first state final appearance in program history, hoping to change the narrative from a 3-0 loss to Sidwell in October. But any hopes of quieting the Quakers’ offense dissipated as Rice slipped into the box and squared up her first shot of the day.

“Once we see that first goal go in the net, we get relaxed and we get loose,” Rice said. “When we saw that first one go in, we knew this was our game to win.”