Mother-daughter bond highlights storybook year
Every time BEAVERCREEK —
Sarah McKitrick’s kids prepare to walk onto a field for a game, she tells them the same thing: “Good luck. Have fun. Play hard. I love you.”
Tiernan, a junior at Beavercreek High School, and Sean and Miley, who are in the eighth and fifth grade, respectively, have heard that many times, but the Beavercreek High School girls soccer team heard it for the first time before the Division I state championship game Nov. 9 at MAPFRE Stadium. Sarah is an assistant coach. Tiernan is a starting defender.
Sarah gave her speech to the entire team before the Beavers beat Strongsville 4-2 to win the program’s first state title.
“That was a little emotional before the game,” Sarah said. “I think just because of the magnitude of the game, that was something I was willing to share. They are my girls.”
There was emotion before the game and emotion after it, and the McKitricks had extra reason to appreciate the moment. Twenty three years earlier, Sarah, then with her maiden name Schaeffer, helped lead the Beavercreek girls basketball team to a 28-0 record and the Division I state championship. She also played for the soccer team that reached the state final four in 1993.
Now Sarah got to see her daughter experience a 24-0 season and a state championship. Sarah was a junior in 1995. Tiernan is a junior in 2018.
Of the many great storylines this fall surrounding the Beavercreek girls soccer team — coach Steve Popp winning his first title with the program in his 20th season, the team scoring the second-most goals (140) in state history and the program earning a No. 2 ranking in the nation from USA Today — this mother-daughter story ranks near the top.
“Being able to sit back and watch them celebrate with smiles and the fans, it brought me back to that moment,” Sarah said. “Back then, (fans) were able to rush the court at the basketball game. I remember the entire stands coming onto the court and us being on the bottom of a pile. Watching the girls be able to do that when they ran over to the stands to all the fans and the students and getting to see your own kid smile from ear to ear and being so connected as a coach, I got to see the process happen. When you’re a parent, you get to watch it from a distance, but as a coach, you’re really involved in the day-to-day of what they did to get to that point.”
Tiernan grew up hearing about her mom’s high school stories. Last fall, she wore Sarah’s state championship jacket from 1995 — thinking, “This should be good luck” — to the boys state soccer championship game and watched from the stands as Beavercreek beat Medina 1-0 in double overtime.
It was at that game when Tiernan and two friends started talking about winning a state championship of their own. It was almost a joke then, even though they knew they would have a great team.
But that’s what happened Nov. 9. Marcella Cash, Ella Bianco (two goals) and Diana Benigno scored in the first half, and Beavercreek held on in the final minutes.
“It was crazy,” Tiernan said. “It was just like a breath of relief almost because we worked so hard.”
The same could be said of the 1995 Beavercreek girls basketball team. It beat Lakewood 50-39 for the championship at St. John Arena. It was the first state title for Ed Zink, who had guided the team to the final four in 1991 and 1994. He won state again in 2001 and 2003.
Sarah was a starting forward who tore her ACL in April of 1994 and came back to play soccer that fall and then basketball in the winter.
“I don’t think, as a player, I understood the community investment in how special these moments are,” Sarah said. “As a coach, that part of it was so much more overwhelming and priceless.”