Northwest Catholic Rallies, But Comes Up Short In Soccer Final

HARTFORD, CT — Just past the midpoint of the second half of Sunday's Class S girls soccer championship game at Dillon Stadium, the odds were totally stacked against Northwest Catholic. Entering the tournament as the No. 24 seed with a 6-8-2 regular season record, the Lions were trailing 3-0 to Holy Cross, the defending champion which had steamrolled its three previous tournament opponents by a combined 10-1 margin.

Rather than throwing in the towel, however, Northwest Catholic began to show signs of life when Emily Nicholas closed in on the Holy Cross goal and booted the ball with her left foot off the right post and over the goal line. Five minutes later, Alexia Lilly chopped the deficit to one, bringing the players, coaches and fans to an enthusiasm level unseen since the game's early going.

The Crusaders hung tough, however, surviving several more Lion opportunities to escape with a 3-2 victory and their second straight Class S title.

"We are a team of hard work, we are a team that works 80 minutes and when we don't work 80 minutes, we've learned our lesson time and time again this season," Northwest coach Shelbie Carr said. "We have never been a first half team this season."

Charlotte Polking made three saves in goal for the Lions.

Isabella Lombardo, Jenna Tracy and Kaitlyn Alagno scored goals for the Crusaders. Rachel Healey stopped nine shots to earn the victory.

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