BECKLEY - Charleston Catholic coach Kevin Nelson kept his promise Saturday morning to keeper Diane Bronikowski.

The fulfillment of that bargain meant the Fighting Irish were in firm control of winning their second straight Class AA-A girls state tournament championship.

"We made a deal,'' explained Nelson. "If we were ahead by three goals in the state championship with five minutes left, Diane would get to play the field.

"It worked out well for everyone except Donovan [Reed]. As she was standing at the touch-line she's going, 'Oh, gosh. I can't believe this.' ''

Reed, Bronikowski's replacement, didn't want to be the one that marred Catholic's string of shutouts in the postseason. She didn't face a shot and combined with Bronikowski to post Catholic's fifth straight shutout and 20th overall in dispatching Weir 3-0 in a rematch of last year's title tilt at Carter Field at the YMCA Youth Sports Complex. Catholic beat Weir 2-0 in last year's title game.

Catholic (20-1-4) capped off another impressive year, winning its second title in school history, finishing the regular season again as the top-ranked school in the state coaches association rankings and entering the National Soccer Coaches Association of America regional rankings for the first time last week at No. 15.

After a scoreless opening half Saturday, the Irish went to work, scoring three goals to seal the victory. The Irish peppered the Weir goal with quality shots in the first half, but nothing was getting through.

"We came off the field and were dead silent, and that's not something we're used to,'' Reed said of halftime. "We are never quiet. I guess that was kind of like shell-shocked, 'There's no way we should be acting like this.' It was our own personal motivation.''

Emily Blake scored off an assist from Rachel Silverman less than four minutes into the second half to seize the lead for good at 1-0.

"The whole game got a little quicker after that,'' said Blake, who finished with 30 goals this season. "We communicated better [and] we were able to switch the fields.''

Reed netted a goal off Blake's setup for a 2-0 edge with 19:04 left in the game. Catholic's Victoria Thomas rounded out the scoring off a pass from Silverman less than eight minutes later. Bronikowski finished with one save.

BECKLEY - Charleston Catholic coach Kevin Nelson kept his promise Saturday morning to keeper Diane Bronikowski.

The fulfillment of that bargain meant the Fighting Irish were in firm control of winning their second straight Class AA-A girls state tournament championship.

"We made a deal,'' explained Nelson. "If we were ahead by three goals in the state championship with five minutes left, Diane would get to play the field.

"It worked out well for everyone except Donovan [Reed]. As she was standing at the touch-line she's going, 'Oh, gosh. I can't believe this.' ''

Reed, Bronikowski's replacement, didn't want to be the one that marred Catholic's string of shutouts in the postseason. She didn't face a shot and combined with Bronikowski to post Catholic's fifth straight shutout and 20th overall in dispatching Weir 3-0 in a rematch of last year's title tilt at Carter Field at the YMCA Youth Sports Complex. Catholic beat Weir 2-0 in last year's title game.

Catholic (20-1-4) capped off another impressive year, winning its second title in school history, finishing the regular season again as the top-ranked school in the state coaches association rankings and entering the National Soccer Coaches Association of America regional rankings for the first time last week at No. 15.

After a scoreless opening half Saturday, the Irish went to work, scoring three goals to seal the victory. The Irish peppered the Weir goal with quality shots in the first half, but nothing was getting through.

"We came off the field and were dead silent, and that's not something we're used to,'' Reed said of halftime. "We are never quiet. I guess that was kind of like shell-shocked, 'There's no way we should be acting like this.' It was our own personal motivation.''

Emily Blake scored off an assist from Rachel Silverman less than four minutes into the second half to seize the lead for good at 1-0.

"The whole game got a little quicker after that,'' said Blake, who finished with 30 goals this season. "We communicated better [and] we were able to switch the fields.''

Reed netted a goal off Blake's setup for a 2-0 edge with 19:04 left in the game. Catholic's Victoria Thomas rounded out the scoring off a pass from Silverman less than eight minutes later. Bronikowski finished with one save.

Weir keeper Taylor Gianangeli kept her team close, coming up with several athletic saves and finishing with eight stops.

The Irish didn't allow a goal for the second straight postseason and yielded only eight goals on the year. Catholic outscored its opponents 24-0 in the playoffs (compared to 20-0 last season). The Irish and No. 7 Weir (16-4-4) played to a 1-1 draw in late August.

"Man, we had one, it was right there and we didn't capitalize on it,'' said Weir coach Chris Lefevre, whose team only mustered one shot on goal and allowed its first scores of the postseason.

"And we knew when our opportunities came we had to capitalize. Charleston Catholic brought a lot of pressure. I think we held back a little more defensively trying to watch key players. I'm proud of my players. They stuck it out. They gave it their all.''

Catholic's defense doesn't start and end with Bronikowski, an all-state player a year ago.

"It's a team statistic,'' said Nelson of the shutouts. "Diane, Stephanie [Supcoe] and Abby [Vorholt] get a lot of credit. When we started this year we had to replace our two outside backs. Mary Elliott played out there well and Kit Thomas and Kathryn Dunderville were really revelations out there.

"Kathryn played just outstanding the whole tournament and really limited the chances that teams were going to have down the right sideline. I think we've done a better job this year of defending from the front. Then the other thing, Meg [Whelan] and Rachel Silverman do such a good job patrolling the midfield. Teams have five or six chances [to score] and we have 20 shots.''

Bronikowski gets just a few chances each game to make a play because of the superb defense in front, but when she does the outcome is usually hanging in the balance.

"To me it's a lot more difficult to have to make that one or the two really tough saves for a whole game rather than being tested early on and able to kind of get in a rhythm,'' Nelson said. "I think it's a testament to her ability to stay in the game. When she has to make those saves she can.''

Reach Tommy R. Atkinson at tatkin...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4811.