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Saint Ignatius Soccer Named Max Preps' Team of the Decade

By Joe Ginley '12 , 01/08/20, 4:45PM EST

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The Wildcats won 3 OHSAA Championships in a row from 2014-16.

Wildcats fans have had a front-row seat to the best high school soccer team in the country during the 2010s. 

Max Preps has named the Saint Ignatius soccer program as the best in the country during the last decade. 

Yes, something special has happened at the corner of West 30th and Lorain with Coach Mike McLaughlin '85 at the helm.

The Soccer Cats have achieved incredible feats during the last ten years. For starters, the Wildcats won 6 OHSAA State Championships from 2010-19, including three in a row, an unmatched feat in Division I Ohio high school soccer. The Wildcats took home OHSAA trophies in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2019. No program has more OHSAA state soccer crowns than the Wildcats' nine all-time titles.  

Just as impressive are the Wildcats' national championships. The men of McLaughlin won four national championships in the last decade – 2010, 2015, 2016, 2019. The Wildcats' last national title came this past season, when the Clevelanders rolled to a 21-0-2 record. 

The Wildcats' most impressive stretch may have occurred from 2014-16. The program won back-to-back-to-back OHSAA State Championships and back-to-back National Championships. From 2014-17, the Wildcats compiled a 61-game unbeaten streak, an incredible stretch of dominance. 

In a word, the Wildcats have established a soccer dynasty in Ohio City. 

But the work is never over – Coach McLaughlin and the Wildcats will be back at work soon to ensure that the tradition continues in the 2020s.