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After reaching the state semifinals five times in the last seven seasons, Hoggard girls soccer is finally heading back to a state championship.
The top-seeded Vikings cleared perhaps their biggest hurdle of the season Thursday, May 21, dominating No. 2-seeded Millbrook 3-2 in the NCHSAA 8A East regional championship in Wilmington.
The win sends Hoggard (19-1-1) to just the second state title game in program history and its first since 2010, when the Vikings suffered a penalty-kick heartbreak against North Mecklenburg.
Getting back to this stage has not come quickly for Hoggard.
Since 2019, the Vikings have consistently been one of the state’s top programs, reaching at least the state quarterfinals every season while falling in regional championships four times.
PLAYOFF SCORES Wilmington 2026 high school spring sports brackets, regional scores
This spring, though, felt different almost immediately.
Hoggard captured its first outright conference title since 2022, has recorded 15 shutouts and overwhelmed opponents by a combined 115-11 score.
Early against Millbrook, Hoggard looked every bit like a team unwilling to let another opportunity slip away.
The breakthrough came quickly as Graysen Fisher received a deflected corner at the top of the penalty box and sent a curving shot that no goalie in the state could save into the right corner of the net.
Hoggard added two more as Airlie Altman’s perfectly placed header off another corner, and Brielle Archer’s across-goal shot wrapped up an emphatic first-half tilt.
Millbrook made a late surge, scoring its only goals of the game in the final five six minutes of the game.
Hoggard will play for the NCHSAA 8A state championship next week at Durham County Memorial Stadium. The official date has not yet been announced, but sometime between May 28-30, the Vikings will have a chance to become the first New Hanover County public school to bring a girls soccer state title back to Wilmington.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Hoggard defeats Millbrook to reach 8A girls soccer state final
Continue reading...
The top-seeded Vikings cleared perhaps their biggest hurdle of the season Thursday, May 21, dominating No. 2-seeded Millbrook 3-2 in the NCHSAA 8A East regional championship in Wilmington.
The win sends Hoggard (19-1-1) to just the second state title game in program history and its first since 2010, when the Vikings suffered a penalty-kick heartbreak against North Mecklenburg.
Getting back to this stage has not come quickly for Hoggard.
Since 2019, the Vikings have consistently been one of the state’s top programs, reaching at least the state quarterfinals every season while falling in regional championships four times.
PLAYOFF SCORES Wilmington 2026 high school spring sports brackets, regional scores
This spring, though, felt different almost immediately.
Hoggard captured its first outright conference title since 2022, has recorded 15 shutouts and overwhelmed opponents by a combined 115-11 score.
Early against Millbrook, Hoggard looked every bit like a team unwilling to let another opportunity slip away.
The breakthrough came quickly as Graysen Fisher received a deflected corner at the top of the penalty box and sent a curving shot that no goalie in the state could save into the right corner of the net.
Hoggard added two more as Airlie Altman’s perfectly placed header off another corner, and Brielle Archer’s across-goal shot wrapped up an emphatic first-half tilt.
Millbrook made a late surge, scoring its only goals of the game in the final five six minutes of the game.
Hoggard will play for the NCHSAA 8A state championship next week at Durham County Memorial Stadium. The official date has not yet been announced, but sometime between May 28-30, the Vikings will have a chance to become the first New Hanover County public school to bring a girls soccer state title back to Wilmington.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Hoggard defeats Millbrook to reach 8A girls soccer state final
Continue reading...
