Almost three weeks ago, Verde Valley School soccer lost the battle to preserve a 46-game winning streak.

But May 3, the Coyotes would avenge their 3-1 home loss to Oak Creek Ranch School and win the war for the Northern Arizona Athletic Association.

“I think we were very complacent,” Gill said of the April 26 loss, Gill’s first loss to Oak Creek and the school’s first soccer loss since 2012. “I think that’s what happens when we hadn’t lost in four seasons.

“They had more passion, more desire [and] more physicality. They sort of put the game to us in an unexpected way. They just wanted it more.”

Although the players took the loss philosophically, they had to move on from it quickly with Southwestern Academy awaiting them the next day in the NAAA semifinals.

“We were a little bit stung by the loss, but that would’ve been a different semifinal had we not lost to Oak Creek,” Gill said. “In some ways, we sort of bounced back pretty quickly. I think they had just one chance on goal, so we kept possession really well.”

German senior midfielder Zino Vieth — the team’s top goal scorer the last two seasons — struck first. Sophomore Alex Tehfi, from Mexico, added a late goal in a 2-0 shutout.

After the final at Verde Valley School was postponed three days due to rains, a rematch of last year’s final with Oak Creek School lay in wait.

“I knew it was going to be really important to start really strong, fast and physical,” Gill said. “They’re quite a big, physical team, but we knew if we matched them in terms of competitiveness, we would be more focused.

“From the first whistle, we were competing for the ball.”

Yet only Tehfi could break through for a goal in a “really close” first 40 minutes, Gill said.

“They had a couple of chances to score when we were leading,” he said. “Had those gone in, that would’ve been a different game.”

Oak Creek’s opportunities hit the goalpost and missed wide, and in the final 20 minutes, led by senior Kelly Franks, the Coyotes were the dominant team.

“They got a little bit tired,” Gill said. “The second half became a much more open game.”

Chinese junior David Weng scored first, followed by Vieth, Tehfi, then Vieth again to complete the 5-0 win.

The real players of the game, however, were “fantastic” senior defenders Kevin Singsaas and Alex Oscher, whose “composed, mature performance” made for “the best game of his time here,” Gill added.

“Just great positional play, great speed,” he said. “He really just cut out all their opportunities.”

Of all the Coyotes’ postseason goal-scorers and honorees, however, only Tehfi returns to fill Vieth’s role next season, along with junior midfielder Talie Peck and Rwandan freshman Daisy Karekezi.

Weng and at least 13 other players from China are on the school’s semester exchange program and will not return.

“We never know who we’re going to get in August,” Gill said. “Every year we get 10 to 12 new kids from all over the world.”

But Gill is confident he’ll be able to tell the character of his 13th Verde Valley School soccer team from who stands out playing on the green areas around campus then.

For the first season ever, the Coyotes had a B team play for just such a contingency. The captain of that team, sophomore Christopher Lopez, will need to step up on defense as an A team starter next spring, Gill said, along with mid-season call-up Therese Bach, a freshman Dane.