INDIANAPOLIS - In the span of five minutes, Bishop Dwenger went from despair to jubilation.
And on the foot of freshman forward Lisa Underwood, Bishop Dwenger won the penalty kick session 3-1 and the school's first state title 2-1 over Zionsville at Kuntz Stadium.
Zionsville senior forward Leanne Winterrow had a good scoring chance off a corner kick with 5:15 left in the second overtime, but it rolled about a foot wide left.
Sophomore forward Blair Sorg, the hero of Dwenger's 2-0 semifinal win over Evansville Central earlier Saturday afternoon, had a pristine 1-on-1 opportunity with 4:21 left in the first overtime period. Dribbling down the left side, Sorg's shot went wide right of the goal, blowing the chance and causing her to bang her fists repeatedly into the ground.
Underwood - who led the team offensively this season - gave Dwenger a 1-0 lead with 16:29 left in the first half, tapping in a rebound into the middle of a mostly open net.
Zionsville tied it early in the second half as sophomore defender Leah Einterz struck the ball from just beyond the top of the Bishop Dwenger box. The ball came to her off a corner kick by junior defender Anna Dykema.
Dwenger junior goalkeeper Erin Jacobson kept the Saints in the game, making several impressive saves, including one jumping up on her goal-line and keeping out an Amber Cress shot that tried to sneak just under the crossbar.
"I just knew I had to get it," Jacobson said. "With that stuff, it's pretty much do or die. You don't want to take a chance of someone heading it in. It's your best bet."
Jacobson learned about staying with the ball from last week's semi-state game against Snider and from a Evansville opportunity earlier in Saturday's game.
With time dwindling in the first half, Evansville senior midfielder Julie Vaughan took a corner kick and laced it high along the goal line. Jacobson had tipped it, but Bears sophomore forward Allison Young waited.
She headed the ball in, temporarily shocking the Saints (20-3-1). But the officials disallowed the goal - a flag was raised signaling the ball was out of bounds before the ball even came close to Jacobson - changing the momentum of the game.
It also came in a change in the offensive strategy. For much of the first half, Evansville Central (20-4) dominated time of possession and kept the ball in Dwenger's half of the field.
Dwenger senior midfielder Mary Peden possessed the ball on the right side of the box. The move placed Evansville senior keeper Lydia Higgins out of position, following a scrum on the right side.
The ball ran away from the fingertips of Higgins, the tips which deflected the Blair Sorg shot away for those milliseconds before it bounced away and into the left corner of the net.
"The girls, they are creative in the way they play soccer," Dwenger coach Jason Wisniewski said. "Blair has an awesome shot. She hit it good enough and it went in.
"It was the best opportunity of the game. They didn't create any stellar opportunities but they handled the pressure well and now we're in the championship."
Steve Shively scored with 24 seconds remaining to give the Indianapolis North Central boys soccer team a 2-1 victory over Carmel in the state championship game. The win is the fifth state title for North Central.
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