OCA Calendar | 5/15/2023 11:29:00 AM
Columbia, SC – Maybe Oceanside Collegiate Academy's teams should make Irmo High School in Columbia their official home away from home.
On Saturday the Landsharks made the stadium on the Irmo High campus feel like Oceanside west as both the OCA boys' and girls' soccer teams won SCHSL Class AA state titles on the field. Two weeks ago, it was the OCA girls' lacrosse team that brought home state gold on the same field.
For the Oceanside girls' soccer team, led by Landsharks director of athletics Mark Meyer, it was a third consecutive state title after winning the Class AAA championship the last two years. The Landsharks defeated Christ Church 3-1 to win the AA title this year, finishing the season with a 14-4 record.
The Landsharks' boys team followed suit, posting a 2-0 victory over Gray Collegiate Academy to capture the program's second state title. OCA also won a state championship in 2019.
The state championships were the fifth and sixth this year for the OCA Athletics program.
To start the day, the Oceanside girls' team was locked in a scoreless tie in the first half against the Cavaliers from Christ Church. Freshman Kate Schmidler finally broke through with the first goal of the game 15 minutes into the second half. The score remained 1-0 for the next 15 minutes of play before junior Lily Lyman scored for a 2-0 lead.
The Landsharks put the game away late on a goal by freshman Ella Petry for a 3-0 lead. Christ Church avoided the shutout with a late goal by senior defender Lauren Monday.
"I knew we had potential, but we had a lot of youth," Meyer told the Post & Courier after the match. "This team did a good job of improving every day. I knew we had the potential to do this if we put it all together."
The Oceanside boys' soccer team made it a state title sweep, completing an undefeated (14-0-2) season with the victory over Gray Collegiate. The Landsharks are ranked No. 2 in the nation by United Soccer Coaches in the latest spring poll.
The Landsharks set the tone early when sophomore Jacob Cromedy scored the opening goal within the first five minutes of the match beginning. That was where the score remained until midway through the second half when fellow sophomore Ethan Duncan scored the second, and final goal.
"I told the guys all season that great defense wins championships," OCA coach Ethan Duncan told the Lexington County Chronicle. "Teams win games. I'm so, so proud of them. I couldn't ask for anything better this season."
Oceanside allowed just three goals total over the course of the season.
"They are arguably the best soccer team of all classifications in South Carolina," Gray Collegiate coach Kevin Heise said.
The Landsharks are not yet done with SCHSL playoffs for this year. The Landsharks' baseball team has advanced to the championship of the Lower State tournament where they await either Andrew Jackson or North Central at Shipyard Park on Wednesday. OCA will need to win just one of two games to advance to next week's state championship series.
The Oceanside boys golf team is also playing in the state championship tournament at Newberry College today and tomorrow.
Finally, members of the Oceanside Collegiate girls' track team will be competing for individual state titles on Saturday at Spring Valley High in Columbia. The Landsharks' Siobhan Joyce is the favorite in the 3200-meter race, Kailen Kramer and Lily Corley will compete in the pole vault where they have two of the top three performances of the season and Sophia Skidmore and Scarlett Grave will compete in the javelin.
About Oceanside Collegiate Academy: Oceanside Collegiate Academy (OCA), located in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., serves high school students in a safe, small and family-centered setting. Our students seek the opportunity and challenge of rigorous curriculum, high academic standards and elite athletics while earning up to two years of college credit. OCA serves students in grades 9-12 using an honors curriculum in 9th and 10 grades with a dual enrollment curriculum in 11th and 12th grades
Learn more about OCA by visiting our website at OceansideCollegiateAcademy.org and by following us on social media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For video content, visit our YouTube channel.
