BECKLEY - You don't get through a season without a little bit of luck.
BECKLEY - You don't get through a season without a little bit of luck.
Kaylynn Petrisin knocked a bouncing ball in front of the goal into the net late in the second half to send University past Hurricane 1-0 in the Class AAA girls soccer state championship game Saturday at Cline Field in the YMCA Youth Sports Complex.
Hurricane's Abby Barber tried to head a corner kick from in front of the goal. Instead the ball spun backward and Petrisin was able to get her left foot on it and send the ball grazing off the left post and just past Redskins keeper Callie McClanahan with 18:25 to go in the second half. McClanahan finished with one save.
"I usually don't score left-footed,'' said Petrisin, the daughter of University coach Ray Petrisin. "I just kind of did a little swing and it hit off my left foot.
"I saw it hit the post and I thought it was going to come back, then I saw it go in. I had to double-check myself because I didn't know it went in. Tears of joy came out.''
The Redskins had a chance to score when Chloe Barber's cross went past two teammates near the goal and the second one barely got a foot on the ball to kick it out of bounds over the end line. Hurricane's Skye Smith took the team's only two shots on goal while top scorer Becca Logan was held without a shot. Logan was involved in a hard collision and left briefly late in the second half.
University (23-0-2), which finished the regular season No. 1 in the state coaches association rankings, completed the season as the only undefeated team in the state and won its first title. The Hawks earned a bit of redemption after falling to Nitro 1-0 in a shootout in last year's title game.
"It's definitely a big change in feeling,'' said Hillary Johns. "We knew how it felt to come all this way last year and to lose in the finals. We definitely knew we didn't want that feeling again. It just feels really good that we came out here and won. It feels unreal.''
No. 2 Hurricane (16-1-5) suffered its first loss this season after advancing to its first girls state tournament in school history.
"This is by far the best team I've ever been on,'' said the Redskins' Skye Smith, a four-year starter. "That's a great group of girls. I wouldn't want to be with anybody else but them.
BECKLEY - You don't get through a season without a little bit of luck.
Kaylynn Petrisin knocked a bouncing ball in front of the goal into the net late in the second half to send University past Hurricane 1-0 in the Class AAA girls soccer state championship game Saturday at Cline Field in the YMCA Youth Sports Complex.
Hurricane's Abby Barber tried to head a corner kick from in front of the goal. Instead the ball spun backward and Petrisin was able to get her left foot on it and send the ball grazing off the left post and just past Redskins keeper Callie McClanahan with 18:25 to go in the second half. McClanahan finished with one save.
"I usually don't score left-footed,'' said Petrisin, the daughter of University coach Ray Petrisin. "I just kind of did a little swing and it hit off my left foot.
"I saw it hit the post and I thought it was going to come back, then I saw it go in. I had to double-check myself because I didn't know it went in. Tears of joy came out.''
The Redskins had a chance to score when Chloe Barber's cross went past two teammates near the goal and the second one barely got a foot on the ball to kick it out of bounds over the end line. Hurricane's Skye Smith took the team's only two shots on goal while top scorer Becca Logan was held without a shot. Logan was involved in a hard collision and left briefly late in the second half.
University (23-0-2), which finished the regular season No. 1 in the state coaches association rankings, completed the season as the only undefeated team in the state and won its first title. The Hawks earned a bit of redemption after falling to Nitro 1-0 in a shootout in last year's title game.
"It's definitely a big change in feeling,'' said Hillary Johns. "We knew how it felt to come all this way last year and to lose in the finals. We definitely knew we didn't want that feeling again. It just feels really good that we came out here and won. It feels unreal.''
No. 2 Hurricane (16-1-5) suffered its first loss this season after advancing to its first girls state tournament in school history.
"This is by far the best team I've ever been on,'' said the Redskins' Skye Smith, a four-year starter. "That's a great group of girls. I wouldn't want to be with anybody else but them.
"We're so close. We play for each other. Nobody plays to be all-state or just to score. We've had a great season. We worked hard. We've been competing ever since two-a-days with each other in practice.''
The Redskins outplayed the Hawks in the first half, but the tables turned after halftime.
"I had quite a few shots in the first half I just couldn't finish,'' said Logan, who finished with a team-high 29 goals. "I think it was nerves. The second half they came out strong and we came out kind of flat.
"We couldn't get hardly anything on goal. Their defense did a great job. We came out really fired up in the first half. I think we did so well in the first half and we thought we could come out and do the same. It was like we were expecting it to happen instead of making it happen.''
University keeper Hillary Dewitt turned aside two shots.
Hurricane loses 10 seniors to graduation, including Smith and Logan, but the future is still bright.
"Some of those girls you see out on the field are freshmen,'' said first-year Hurricane coach Shelly Young. "We've got a good core group of girls - juniors, sophomores and freshmen - who will be back.
"We've got a really deep bench, we've got 35 players this year. Those girls that weren't chosen to move up [to varsity this year] are really hungry to get some playing time next year so they're going to be working hard in the offseason I think.''
Reach Tommy R. Atkinson at takin...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4811.
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