St. Edward 1, Elgin Academy 0
No high school soccer team from Elgin -- boys or girls -- had ever reached the state finals.
That was guaranteed to change Monday. The only question was which Elgin team would net the honor.
The girls from St. Edward became the answer to that trivia question with a second-half goal off the foot of senior center midfielder Bianca Ramirez, a boot that stood up as the game winner in a 1-0 victory over Elgin Academy at the Class A Westminster Christian sectional final.
The Green Wave advance to a state quarterfinal on Friday at 6 p.m. at North Central College in Naperville against Herscher, a 3-2 winner over the host school in overtime at the Bloomington Central Catholic sectional.
Midway through the second half of a scoreless game, the St. Edward midfield sent a long ball into the box. The ball deflected off an Elgin Academy defender and squirted a few feet away to Ramirez, who was facing the goal and fired point blank to score her fourth goal of the season and 15th of her career.
"I just saw an opportunity," Ramirez said. "I knew the ball was up there. It deflected off one of the Elgin Academy girls and I just knocked it in.
"This is just amazing."
The Green Wave (11-8-2) took 12 shots compared to 8 for the Hilltoppers (12-9), who earned a dangerous scoring opportunity on a free kick just outside the box late in the second half. However, Lauren Steimle's kick toward the net was headed away by St. Edward's Maggie Duggan and the Green Wave cleared the ball to midfield.
"We played as hard as we could," Elgin Academy coach Greg Repede said. "They're a pretty quick team, a pretty physical team. It's one of those games that could have gone either way, but I think (St. Edward) deserved to win. They've got a great program. I hope they win the whole thing."
St. Edward coach Tim Brieger told his players at halftime of the scoreless match that they needed to play 40 minutes of their best soccer if they wanted to reach the state quarterfinals.
"I told the girls, 'Forty minutes, I don't care how much it hurts. I don't care if you can't breathe, I don't care if they break your legs -- you finish this thing off. We're going 11 on 11.'
"(Receda) subbed once, we subbed once. The girls stepped up and Bianca was in the right place at the right time."
The St. Edward defense regularly denied the Hilltoppers the middle of the field. Players like senior sweeper Mackenzie Malone and senior defender Katy Lally regularly stifled Elgin Academy's attack with superior ballhandling on the edges of the field.
That left St. Edward goalkeeper Taylor Hunsburger to make 8 saves, only 2 of which could be considered dangerous chances.
"It's like the greatest feeling. I think it's like the Super Bowl," Lally said of reaching the Class A Elite Eight. "I understand now why people say this is such a big deal. I'm so excited right now."