SSA, the No. 1 seed, made its sixth consecutive trip to the championship match, and the Doves put three years of runner-up frustration behind them, earning a thrilling 1-0 victory over No. 2 seed Lafayette on a game-winning goal by senior Kate Gutterman in a rematch of last year's championship contest. Gutterman's blast came with 3-minutes remaining in the second 10-minute overtime. SSA's Maegen "Ish" Due, who was voted the Outstanding Player in the championship match primarily for her defensive work on Lafayette senior Alexcia Alexander keeping her and her Mighty Lions teammates off the board. Due was called upon to take a free kick from about 35 yards out and she got off a perfectly placed laser toward the back post and found the foot of Gutterman, who polished off the eventual game-winner. Following Gutterman's blast, the SSA defense did the rest shutting down Lafayette's attack to secure the championship for the fired up Doves.
The Doves' defense was absolutely spectacular during their playoff run not allowing a goal in the five playoff victories. Senior goal keeper Elena Naccari and her defensive teammates sparkled in the championship victory. The two teams met in last year's championship contest with Lafayette winning it 2-1. SSA finishes the season 23-2 and will proudly place their newly garnered championship trophy next to their 2007, 2009 and 2010 championship hardware at their Covington campus. The high-flying Doves will be my guest this Thursday night on Northshore Sports broadcasting from 7-8 at WOW Cafe on Highway 190 in Covington. You can join head coach Mike Ortner and some of his SSA championship players on the this week's show.
In the boys' Division I finale, the 24-1-1 St. Paul's Wolves, the No. 2 seed, had to be patient waiting through a 1-hour and 20-minute delay due to a lighting outage following the SSA victory over Lafayette. The delay didn't hamper the St. Paul's performance as the Wolves took care of business with a superlative outing garnering a 3-0 victory over No. 8 seed Grace King. St. Paul's junior Eric Guin delivered two goals and was named the Outstanding Player, while Cameron Robinson, the Wolves' top goal scorer also found the range to spearhead the victory. St. Paul's dominated the time of possession and the Wolves's defense was absolutely spectacular throughout turning away the Grace King offense repeatedly, allowing just one quality shot on goal, which was turned back by junior keeper Colin Hanley. St. Paul's defense only allowed one goal in their playoff run. St. Paul's got rid of the sour taste of being the Division I state runner up for the last two years. Grace King finished 26-3-4.
