Connor Worley is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Northwest Christian for AZPreps365.com.

Caden Murphy sat inside his classroom at Northwest Christian with his laptop propped open.

The senior midfielder for the Crusaders’ soccer team intently watched a livestream of the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s executive board deliberating whether to reverse its decision to cancel winter sports. 

As the vote tallied 5-4 in favor of winter sports returning, all Murphy felt was pure happiness to return to the pitch.

“There were other things being proposed if we didn't have a season with the AIA,” Murphy said. “But I feel like it means more when there's an official tournament and official state game.” 

Starting with the squad’s first game on Jan. 21, Northwest Christian has capitalized on this season’s borrowed time on its way to an 11-0-1 record. 

Northwest Christian’s success this season has been fueled by a desire to overcome the postseason losses that the team has repeatedly suffered, including a 2-1 loss to Arizona College Prep in the opening round of last year’s state tournament and a 5-0 loss to Coronado in the 2019 state championship game. 

But this year’s team set out to be different.

Senior defensive back Liam O’Neill emphasized that the postseason losses have served as crucial learning experiences and motivation to avoid repeated mistakes. 

“Last year we kind of came out slow and that kind of caused us to get into some trouble and we lost in the first round,” O’Neill said.  

“And our sophomore year, we went to the state championship and lost to Cornado," he added. "That really taught us how to prepare for a state championship game and really [how to] play a team in those big moments.” 

Murphy added that the group’s collective experience and enduring those losses together have sharpened the team’s focus and separated them from prior squads.

“It's pretty much the same group of guys minus one transfer that's come in and a few freshmen, too,” Murphy said. “And I think that's helped jell us in the past year because we all know who's here and everything, and we're good friends.”

Despite their undefeated record, the Crusaders haven’t cakewalked through this season. As the team was finding its footing in the early part of the season, they inched out a 3-2 overtime win at Bourgade Catholic and came away with a 0-0 tie at Valley Christian.

Coach Jeremy Witt said the team’s willingness to never quit despite the game’s scenario allowed them to overcome those early challenges. 

“We grind the game out if we need to,” Witt said. “If it's a tight game, we just keep grinding and we never stop moving and keep playing hard as best we can.”

Senior midfielder Daniel Lara added that the Crusaders’ work ethic is their top trait to sticking out close matches.

“Our work ethic, no matter the minute, or what the score is, we're just always working, even if we're not playing our best, we're at least giving 100 percent effort,” Lara said.

Northwest Christian translated those learned lessons into eight consecutive wins, including six shutouts and two 5-1 victories. 

The Crusaders are aided by a strong, stingy defense that’s yielded just four goals all year. In turn, the defense enables the offense to be explosive, which has led to a five goals per game average.

“I feel like our back four is really solid, especially with our midfield like, I'd say our defensive side of the ball is definitely our strong suit,” Murphy said.

Even more than the team’s comfortability with one another on the field, Northwest Christian’s trust is built from the fun, competitive environment cultivated off it. 

Players come up with inside jokes about coaches, compete with the girls soccer team for the back of the bus on road trips or do something funny at practice that causes fits of laughter and the drills to stop.

“Somebody will say something funny [that’s] not even meant to be a joke," Witt said, laughing. “It just everybody starts dying laughing or somebody will do something in a drill that nobody's expecting. And all the boys get super pumped about it.”

“We're very serious on the soccer field, but one sort of step off it we're a bunch of goofballs together,'' O'Neill added. “We don't take anything too seriously. And I think that's what really helps us bond together.”

The Crusaders are first in the 3A Northwest alignment and expect to earn a high seed in the 3A state playoffs which start March 10.