The Zionsville girls soccer team came close — really close — to achieving its ultimate goal but fell to No. 9 Cathedral 2-0 in the championship game of last Saturday’s North Central Semistate.

“Obviously we wanted to continue and have a chance to go to state,” said coach Ramon Aguillon.

But . . .

“I think regardless of that,” Aguillon said, “it was a great season.”

Among their accomplishments, the Eagles got as high as No. 2 in the state rankings, beat rival Noblesville during the regular season and beat Carmel for the first time.

Then came the playoffs, when they had to do it all over again: beat the top-ranked Greyhounds and third-ranked Millers just for a chance to play for the sectional title. They did it, winning Zionsville’s first sectional championship since 2005, which Aguillon called “the highlight of our season.”

Zionsville went on to win its first regional since 2005. The seventh-ranked Eagles also dropped No. 5 Brownsburg in the semistate semifinals Saturday, giving them three wins over top-five teams in the postseason.

“That’s something that the girls should be very proud of,” Aguillon said.

Zionsville wound up 16-3-4, led by a group of 11 seniors that Aguillon said “helped elevate our program to heights that we haven’t really been before.”

Among the seniors is Purdue recruit Hadley Stuart, a forward and the team’s second-leading scorer with 13 goals and five assists.

“She always had the assignment of being marked by one or two players on the other team, and yet she always found a way to not only score goals but to create opportunities for her teammates,” Aguillon said. “She’s a great all-around player that we’ll sorely miss next year.”

Goalkeeper Kristin Haseley also anchored her position for the past two seasons, posting 13 shutouts this year and 25 during the span (this year she had a 0.66 goals-against average). Center midfielder Kasey McKenney (the team’s third-leading scorer with five goals and six assists) “has helped us tremendously over the last couple of years,” Aguillon said.

The Eagles can look forward to the return of junior forward Lindsey Hansen, who scored a team-leading 15 goals, and sophomore midfielder Alyssa Allsop, whose five assists are second-most.