St. Catherine’s scored a pair of goals Saturday to hand Norfolk Collegiate its first loss of the season, 2-0 at Ukrop Park, and win the VISAA Division I state title for the second consecutive year.
The Saints (17-0-1) achieved their final goal of the season, but it didn’t come easily. They were playing a Norfolk Collegiate (13-1-1) team that also finished the regular season undefeated.
“It was a very good game. Throughout the entire 80 minutes, Norfolk Collegiate played hard,” said St. Catherine’s coach Laurie Marshalek. “Even while it was 2-0, we weren’t comfortable with that lead knowing that at any point they could get a goal. Their forwards were fast, out to their wide forwards, who were quick and able to put it across the goal.
“They had opportunities, we had opportunities, we were just fortunate enough to be able finish on the two goals that we did have.”
Fewer than five minutes into the first half, Addie Wright headed the ball into the net off Lilli Marcia’s corner kick to put the Saints up 1-0 on the Mighty Oaks.
Norfolk Collegiate started to pick up the intensity and use the width of the field to build an attack, but it was Seeley Yoo, up against many defenders in the box, who won the ball on the dribble and found the left corner for a 2-0 lead for St. Catherine’s.
“This is a special group of girls,” said Marshalek. “They bring a lot of experience and that experience paid off for them tonight. They’ve worked hard and these six seniors are going to be sorely missed. They certainly left their mark on Saints soccer.”
The Saints have gone 740 days since their last loss, 3-2 overtime against St. Anne’s-Belfield in the 2014 state final. Since then, they have scored 272 goals and given up just 15.
“I was so proud of everybody,” said Yoo, the VISAA state player of the year. “I think that everybody really left it all out on the field and we really worked really hard for each other. And this has been our goal since the beginning of the season, so I’m really proud of everyone for reaching it.”
This year’s St. Catherine’s team had 11 returning starters and lost only one player from last year.
“I feel like (with) just losing one player, we were kind of coming into the season like nothing’s going to change, we’re not going to have any sort of difficulties or anything,” Wright said.
“But I think we were surprised with how much we had to work to try to get into the flow of each other again and get used to it.”
With a second consecutive state championship and another undefeated season, the Saints and the six graduating seniors have a lot be proud of.
“Like I said early in the season, each year brings new goals, new challenges, and it’s a fresh start. We wipe that slate clean at the beginning of the year and come up with a new set of goals, and that’s what I expect to happen next year,” Marshalek said.
Norfolk Collegiate 0 0 — 0
St. Catherine’s 2 0 — 2
STC: Wright, Yoo
Saves: McGurn (NC) 5, Wigg (STC) 2
Records: Norfolk Collegiate 13-1-1; St. Catherine’s 17-0-1
