Seven years after its founding, a small, four-team girls soccer tournament remains the same size but has significantly grown in stature.
The event is the Northern Virginia Independent Schools State Invitational, held for teams that play in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and the Independent School League.
The tourney was started in 2017 because top teams from Northern Virginia in those two leagues did not have the opportunity to play in state playoffs, as their seasons are held during the fall. The majority of private-school girls soccer teams in Virginia play their seasons during the spring, when state playoffs are held.
Initially, the tournament wasn’t taken too seriously, merely accepted like an end-of-season exhibition following intense conference postseason tournaments. Now, participating teams very much want to first receive one of the four invitations, then win the title.
The Bishop O’Connell Knights of Arlington won the tournament in 2021 and 2022, and were second last fall.
Longtime O’Connell coach Alberto Starace said the Knights didn’t have much interest in the early years.
“The state tournament came after our conference tournament. So at first, we didn’t treat it as a big deal,” Starace said. “Then one year, we weren’t chosen to play in the state. That made us mad — after that, we took it a lot more seriously and started doing better.”
The Potomac School Panthers from McLean also take the tournament to heart. They are the defending champions and have enjoyed the most success of any team since the event began. The team has played in the state final each year, winning two titles with four second-place finishes.
“We always want to end the season in this tournament, and win it if we can,” Potomac School coach Ross McEwen said.
The coach said winning the 2023 tournament made the team’s season, after having also won the conference crown a week before.
O’Connell and Potomac School are both in this year’s tournament. The Knights are the No. 2 seed and Potomac School the No. 3. St. Paul VI Catholic, the 2017 champion, is seeded No. 1 and St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes from Alexandria is seeded fourth.
The Flint Hill Huskies of Oakton won the state crown in 2018. Potomac School and O’Connell have combined to win the last four. The tournament was not held in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The state tournament has helped establish a big fall rivalry between O’Connell and Potomac School, because they have met so often in the state competition during the six years so far.
There has been talk of eventually expanding beyond four teams, but no action has been taken.
