High school soccer: Ravens get revenge, trophy

SANDY — Waterford reclaimed the crown on Saturday in what has become, in recent years, an annual St. Joseph-Waterford showdown at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Freshman Grace Sponaugle put the game away with a goal in the 31st minute to recapture the 2A state championship trophy from a St. Joseph team, which defeated them in last year's title contest.

The two teams have met up in the championship game for three straight years.

"For us, this was the game we were working for all year," said Waterford goalkeeper Jeannie Woller. The last five times the two have met, St. Joseph has walked away victorious.

"I think that (the losses) actually helped us mentally," Woller said. "It got a fire under us."

For Sponaugle, a defender, what better moment to come out of the back and send in the perfect game-winning header? She had just two other goals this season prior to her shining moment Saturday and both were earned in similar fashion.

"I don't have a lot of scoring opportunities because I'm a defender, so I wanted to capitalize on that one," Sponaugle said. "It felt so amazing."

The header came as the result of a beautiful corner kick from senior teammate Jamie Duke and the 1-0 Raven lead would be the final.

"It feels great," Waterford coach Tim Dolbin said. "It has been a year of changing small things until we finally arrived and started playing great soccer."

The Ravens (12-5-1) arrived just at the right moment, improving enough to finally oust the Jayhawks in their most important encounter of the year.

"We've got a really balanced lineup this year," Dolbin said. "Last year (in the championship) we had to make a defensive stand and take it to penalty kicks. This year we were able to play great soccer in all parts of the game."

The Ravens evaded a repeat shootout situation although there were moments when overtime seemed likely.

An early goal was taken from St. Joseph with an offside call and they struggled to regain momentum.

"We were doing really good but we kind of fell apart when that goal was taken away," Jayhawks sophomore Jane Porter said. "We came out strong in the second (half) but so did they."

Just eight minutes into the second half, Ivee Barton of St. Joseph corralled a ball from Kate Weil, displayed some fancy footwork and gave Woller a scare from just inside the 18-yard box. It deflected off the left post and drew a disappointing sigh from Jayhawks fans.

Barton sent another one sailing over the top frame with 18 minutes to go, and Christiana Behnken pinged a strike off the top post five minutes later.

The Jayhawks led 2A for the entire season, going undefeated in region play and finishing with an overall record of 13-3-1.

"They're a really good team," Woller said. "We have a love-hate relationship. We respect them, and they have really good players, but we want to beat them."

email: jwilde@desnews.com