A Repeat That Never Gets Old
by George Diaz
The Lake Mary High School girls’ soccer team began the 2025-2026 season facing significant question marks. The Rams were the defending state champions but had just lost eight seniors to graduation. With a huge freshman class of 23 girls vying for varsity spots, Coach Christian Eissele understandably felt more than a touch of uncertainty.
The team’s willingness to come together as a group during the first part of the season gave Christian high hopes. Yet the most significant moment came in December right before Christmas break, with a 2-1 loss to Bartram Trail.
It was Lake Mary’s first loss of the season, and emotions ran high with a flood of tears in the locker room. Christian had a few heartfelt words of comfort and encouragement for his players.
Having a Good Cry
“It’s a good thing that you can cry now because you don’t want to be feeling like this in the state tournament,” he said. “This is a good opportunity for you guys to cry and let it all out and then come back in January and decide how you want the rest of the season to go. Do you want to feel like this? Or do you want to push harder to make sure we do everything we possibly can so that we don’t feel like this again?”
The only tears shed from that point forward would be those of joy. The Rams lost just one more game, ending the season with an overtime victory against Cypress Bay in the FHSAA Class 7A championship game in DeLand in late February.
Lake Mary finished with a 20-2-1 record, becoming the fourth public school program in the Orlando area to repeat as girls state soccer champs. The others are all from Seminole County, as well: Lyman (1991-92), Lake Howell (2000-01), and Oviedo (2016-17).
By no means was the championship matchup an easy victory. After the teams played 100 scoreless minutes, the game would be decided by penalty kicks. After freshman goalie Lily Ellis stopped four penalty kick attempts, putting the Rams in position to win, junior Kailey Susi drilled the game winner.
“There was definitely a lot of pressure,” says Kailey. “I just tried to block out that outside noise and focus on scoring.”
Walking in His Father’s Cleats
Christian, who became head coach in 2020, now has a 39-5-3 record over the past two seasons. Perhaps the secret to his success is from a family recipe. The Rams won titles in 1988, 1998 and 2002 under the direction of former head coach Bill Eissele, Christian’s father. The family dynamic remains very much in play. Christian brought his father back into the fold two seasons ago as an assistant coach.
“Obviously, I watched him coach my whole life,” says Christian. “When I was younger, I never really understood the ins and outs of it, but now there’s a whole lot of wisdom that he has to share. And I think the biggest thing he taught me is to keep inspiring and motivating these girls to be great people.”
A buy-in from the players is critical, though. Christian certainly got their attention during that locker room speech in December and continued to do so by shaping a positive mindset and building confidence along the way.
“He focuses not just on our field performance, but who we are as people,” said Teagan Jahns, a junior who was the team’s leading scorer with 24 goals. “He wants us to have a good relationship with each other. And we just all want to make him proud at the end of the day.”
Everyone was Lake Mary proud at the end of the season, including a large contingent of fans who made the short trip to DeLand to witness the championship repeat moment.
“It definitely did not come easy whatsoever,” says Myah Bonnett, a junior. “It just feels so amazing because we work so hard for not only ourselves and the legacy, but for each other every day.”