The Holy Cross women’s soccer team reached new heights in 2025-2026.
Led by second-year head coach Duma Magagula, the Saints secured their first ever bid in the NAIA National Championship Tournament after winning the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference title.
However, their success was by no means straightforward. The season started off slow for the Saints.
In their five nonconference games to start the season, the Saints couldn’t find any answers offensively. They lost four of those games and didn’t score a single goal in any of those defeats. However, those matches were critical in providing Holy Cross with a strong test before conference play kicked on.
Marian and Northwestern Ohio — Holy Cross’ initial two fixtures — were both ranked in the NAIA preseason Top 25 poll. Marian ultimately finished the season inside the top 10.
The other teams they fell short to, Bethel and Rochester Christian (Mich.), are also prominent programs.
However, once they got through the early stretch of the season and entered CCAC play, the Saints soared.
They started their conference campaign with a gutsy 3-2 win over Judson inspired by two goals from junior Frances Parks. The win was followed by a 1-0 victory away against St. Ambrose — which is consistently one of the top teams in the conference.
It was in October that the Saints truly hit their stride. After a 2-1 loss to St. Francis (Il.) to start the month, they went undefeated to close out the regular season. This brilliant run of form featured six wins and two draws. Their largest victory came over Calumet (In.), a 7-0 thrashing that featured yet another brace from Parks.
Parks was the centerpiece of the offense for Holy Cross throughout the entirety of the season as her nine goals led the Saints. A Mishawaka native, Parks spent her first two years of college soccer at Jackson College in Michigan. There, she was named the second All-American in the school’s history following a 14-goal season her sophomore year. Her star-studded debut year with the Saints earned her CCAC Newcomer of the Year honors.
After its near-perfect October, Holy Cross fell short to St. Francis in the CCAC semi-finals on Nov. 7.
Two weeks later, they stepped onto the field for the program’s first game in the NAIA National Championship Tournament.
Despite falling 5-0 to Spring Arbor in that game, the result wasn’t what truly mattered. For Holy Cross, one of the smallest schools in the national tournament, simply making it that far was a milestone achievement.
“As a small school of just over 600 students, winning the league makes this accomplishment even more meaningful,” Magagula wrote in an email to The Observer. “We competed against programs twice our size with a much larger recruiting pool, and our players embraced the challenge every step of the way.”
Senior captain Mia Garatoni echoed that sentiment, saying, “We’ve done something that no other soccer team has done before but we recognize all the hard work from the players before us to get the program to this point.”
The success was rewarded in postseason awards where Magagula was named the CCAC Coach of the Season. It’s a well-deserved honor for the man who has been the guiding force behind the team’s success.
“I am truly honored to be named Conference Coach of the Year,” Magagula said, “but this recognition belongs to our players and staff.”
The Saints will aim to build on their success next season, returning the bulk of a roster that loses just three seniors.
