Becca Morales stayed calm when it mattered most but barely could contain her emotions after scoring the game-winning goal in the final minute to give St. Mary’s an unlikely 2-1 victory Friday at The Classical Academy.
The comeback completed an undefeated league season for the Pirates (12-1, 8-0 3A Region 8) and frustrated their rivals, the Titans (13-1-1, 6-1-1).
“That’s probably the most emotional game I’ve ever played in,” said Morales, a senior co-captain who helped St. Mary’s reach the 3A state championship game the past two seasons.
“TCA’s our biggest rival and we’d never gone undefeated in conference.”
The Pirates and Titans were scoreless until the 72nd minute while playing in a 39-degree mist. That’s when TCA sophomore defender Tionne Webb’s 50-yard shot fooled St. Mary’s junior goalie Katie Loof, who couldn’t stop the ball from bouncing over her head.
The Titans were only 8 minutes of errorless defense from celebrating.
A penalty on TCA set up an indirect kick for the Pirates, and Morales tapped the ball to junior Christina Whitelaw, whose short shot tied the score with 3:38 left.
“When you get the equalizer, you have momentum,” Pirates coach Gregg Braha said. “Our character showed in the last 8 minutes.”
When TCA goalie Tita Garcia failed to cleanly handle a St. Mary’s shot with a minute left, the ball squirted toward Morales.
“I was freaking out,” Morales said. “It was out toward the post and I kept saying to myself, ‘Don’t misframe it! Don’t misframe it!”
Morales drilled a shot past Garcia with 58 seconds left to give the Pirates their third straight conference crown.
TCA coach Mike Fox expects his team to be a top seed in Tuesday’s state playoffs despite the loss.
“This should make our girls hungrier,” he said. “I’m real proud of them.”
