Prep’s Jordan Igwenma (10) and Connor Lodes (6) celebrate Igwenma’s first goal during their Metro final matchup against Millard North at Colin Field in South Omaha on April 14, 2025. (Photo/Fisher Madsen)
One field, one evening, two stories.
This year’s edition of the Metro conference finals at Omaha South’s Collin Field brought two very different matchups, with two different champions which carry two very different histories. On the girls’ side, the Bellevue West Thunderbirds scored early in the game on a corner kick and held on to beat the Westside Warriors 1-0 for the team’s first Metro title in program history. On the boys’ side, defending state champion Creighton Prep Junior Jays unleashed an attacking flurry to beat the Millard North Mustangs 5-2 for their second straight Metro title.
The differences between the teams go even further. Bellevue West has made the state tournament three times, the last coming in 2015. Each appearance resulted in a first-round exit. Meanwhile, Creighton Prep soccer has had the most success of any program in the state with 30 state appearances and 10 championships.
Both teams have different outlooks on the season as well.
Creighton Prep coach Tom Hoover said that the team has tried to stay hungry and avoid complacency despite their success early in the season.
West junior Maddy Morgia, meanwhile, says she sees her team as an underdog, and that winning the tournament shows that they “deserve to be where we’re at.”
Bellevue West’s clash with Westside started out with a sixth minute corner kick olimpico from Morgia.
“I knew the wind was gonna take it,” Morgia said. “I was just aiming towards the goalkeeper’s shoulder, and hopefully the wind took it, or my teammate got a head on it. and that’s all I was hoping for.”
After the score, the game turned into a defensive battle.
“The wind made it very difficult in the second half,” Carr said. “We eventually had to move certain players deeper to help combat the wind a little bit more and just play a little bit more defensive just to make sure we try and keep a clean sheet.”
Neither team found the net for the rest of the game, giving West the 1-0 win.
“I’d like to think it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward hopefully to the state championship to try and hopefully go as far as we can,” Carr said.
Westside came into the Metro tournament unranked and made the finals off the backs of upset wins against Millard North and Elkhorn South. However, the No. 2 Thunderbirds proved to be too much to handle.
“The amount of games we have such a short window, to come through that with tight games in in these conditions has been fantastic,” Carr said.
Bellevue West came into the season ranked ninth after missing out on state last year. Since then, the Thunderbirds have led Class A in goals and compiled a 11-1 record. Their only loss? A 0-1 result at Westside.
“Last time we played Westside they scored early in the game and then we didn’t play the rest of the game well,” Morgia said. “But having the early lead really helped us to the rest of (this) game.”
Bellevue West players run to celebrate Maddie Morgia’s corner kick olimpico during their Metro final matchup against Westside at Colin Field in South Omaha on April 14, 2025. (Photo/Fisher Madsen)
One thing both the boys’ and girls’ matches had in common was a reverse fixture, as 11-1 Prep’s only loss of the season came to Millard North in the first week of the season.
“They beat us earlier in the season,” Prep striker Jordan Igwenma said. “We needed a kind of ‘get back’ type of game, so that really fired us up early.”
Millard North had just one loss coming into the game and was the top seed in the tournament.
“You’re only as good as your opponents,” Coach Hoover said. “They brought the best out of us. (I was) very impressed by their team. Their coach does a great job, I’d like to give them a lot of credit.”
Igwenma opened the scoring of the boys’ match in the seventh minute with a highlight reel bicycle kick goal.
“Louis (Tokporo) just headed it to me, came perfectly, and next thing I knew was in the net,” Igwenma said.
North answered with a goal of their own three minutes later. In the 26th minute, Luis Tokporo put the Junior Jays up by a goal, and Igwenma scored on a header six minutes later. Jude Van Bell found the net for Prep and North was able to score again before the halftime break, making the score 4-2.
Jacob Szatko scored the final goal of the game off a flashy Igwenma assist to secure the 5-2 win and the Metro championship.
Igwenma was the top performer for Junior Jays with his brace and assist.
“I don’t like to single out kids, It’s just not the way I want to go about it,” Hoover said. “But it’s hard to ignore (his performance), It was terribly impressive. Kind of jaw dropping in some ways, but what he does so well, he deflects praise to his teammates. He just is always about giving credit to the guys on the field with him, so that’s what I’m more impressed with, not just the highlight reel goals, though they are fun to see. ”
Igwenma and the Junior Jays rolled through the Metro tournament, Igwenma putting up 11 goals through the tournament as Prep outscored opponents 26-3. Hoover said that confidence was a big factor in their tournament success.
“It’s infectious,” Hoover said. “It builds, it builds, it builds, and I hope we’re not peaking, but we’re certainly competitive right now.”
Prep’s James Szatko (5) celebrates a goal during their Metro final matchup against Bellevue West at Colin Field in South Omaha on April 14, 2025. (Photo/Fisher Madsen)
Fisher Madsen is a contributor for Nebraska Soccer Talk, currently studying Sports Media at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.
