Double Delight

There was no stopping Louisville's St Xavier and Sacred Heart as they returned to Georgetown on November 8 and retained their respective KHSAA boys' and girls' soccer titles. Sacred Heart snared the school's third state title, beating Fort Thomas's Highlands with a 2-0 victory. And the No.1 ranked St Xavier (22-1) hammered Highlands 7-2 in the boys' final in front of 1,892 fans at Toyota Stadium, capturing their second straight state crown and their ninth in total, tying the record set by Ballard for Kentucky titles. Valkyries respond to pressure Sacred Heart's girls' varsity team finished the season as it started it -- No. 1 in the state. Goals from sophomore Lucy Chauvin, who ended the season with 19 goals, and Jenna Price gave the Valkyries (21-1-3) victory over Highlands, winners in 2005 and 2006, and SHA's second straight success. Coach Chris Moore believed being the squad to beat put more pressure on his team to deliver the goods, which makes this year's title even more satisfying. Ranked No. 17 in the US by the National Soccer Coaches' Association of America after its success, Sacred Heart beat tough obstacles on the road to the title, including duPont Manual in an exciting 3-2 quarter-final battle and Assumption, who took the champs to overtime but lost out eventually 4-1 in the 7th Region championship. And eight of Sacred Heart's 11 championship game starters will return next year. Elsewhere in Louisville, South Oldham won the 8th Region championship by beating rivals Oldham County 3-0 in the decider, while Manual romped to the 6th region title with an 8-1 victory over Mercy. Tigers on the maul It took St Xavier all of 34 seconds to take command against the Highlands Bluebirds in the State championship game, after Kyle Schickel made full use of a Zach Stewart pass to shoot past Highlands goalkeeper Alex Etienne. Tyler Riggs added a second after 20 minutes, and Kevin Bick sealed the game with a third in the 32nd minute. Nick Jones, Ryan Smith and Cameron Coppola also got their names on the scoresheet. After losing 1-0 to duPont Manual on September 11 in regular season, St Xavier had a run of 16 games, beating Male and Manual to win the 12th District championship and DeSales and Manual again to retain the 6th Region title. Once St Xavier negotiated the tough district and regional championships, however, the path to glory was pretty smooth. The Tigers registered wins against John Hardin, Oldham County and Boyle County in the state tournament before their final romp. Atherton in a thriller Speaking of crazy, one of the most bizarre games of post-season was Atherton's 7th Region championship victory over Trinity, which took two days to complete. An absorbing contest was cut short after one period of overtime with the game tied at 3-3 due to darkness. When the game resumed two days later for another 10 minutes of overtime, the Rebels had to play without Vincent Mendoza and Reid Gross, who had both been issued red cards in the original game segment. So on the second day of play, with Atherton expected to pack the defense and hope for a penalty shoot out, Andrew Farrell made full use of a Julio De Leon pass in sudden-death third overtime and netted his third goal of the game to give the Rebels a 4-3 win. However Atherton fell in the state tournament to Oldham County 6-0, who made it to the big dance courtesy of an 8th region championship final over Shelby County. Southern Indiana In southern Indiana, the Providence boys beat rivals Jeffersonville to regain sectional 59, while New Albany overcame rivals Floyd Central in the semi-final of sectional 60 before going on to beat Salem 8-0 in the championship decider. In the regional championship, Columbus North beat Providence 2-0 in the final and New Albany lost to North in the semi final. In the competitive nine-team girls' sectional at Jeffersonville, Floyd Central won its third straight title, beating New Albany in the final. However, the Highlanders found Columbus North too strong in the regional final, losing 5-0. Aidan Kelly is a freelance writer living in New Albany. He is originally from Dublin, Ireland, where he edited a newspaper for 11 years. Read his blog at soccerindiana.blogspot.com.