Copyright Hartford Courant
NEW BRITAIN – Last year, the Northwest Catholic girls soccer team lost to Lewis Mills in the Class M championship game. The Lions lost again to Lewis Mills early in the regular season this year. But they played the Spartans in the last game of the regular season – and won. That gave them confidence and when the two teams had to play each other once more in the Class M state semifinal game Tuesday night, Northwest Catholic was ready. The 12th-seeded Lions beat No. 8 Lewis Mills 1-0 behind 10 saves from senior goalkeeper Abby Casper, who punched the last Mills shot out in the waning seconds of the game. Northwest Catholic (15-5-1) will play 14th-seeded Foran, a 1-0 winner over No. 2 seed East Hampton, for the Class M championship either Saturday or Sunday at Trinity Health Stadium at a time to be determined. “That was so stressful,” said Casper, who has helped the Northwest Catholic basketball team to three straight state titles. “There was definitely a really high motivation especially after playing them twice this year in the regular season, winning one, losing one. We wanted it so badly.” Senior Mya Montoney scored the only goal for Northwest with 12:10 left in the first half. “I said to the girls before the game, ‘We have an outstanding back line, an outstanding goalkeeper – all we need is one (goal) against a really good opponent,” Northwest Catholic coach Steve Carnes said. “The second win we had was so big for the girls and their confidence especially what happened last year in the final.” Northwest lost 2-1 in the state final last year, then 4-1 to Mills on Sept. 15. But on Oct. 21, the Lions finally broke through and beat the Spartans 2-1. Lewis Mills (16-5) was relentless, especially toward the end of the game, and the 6-foot Casper, who will play basketball at Holy Cross next year, made save after save. “We ended up playing really well as a team on the defensive end, getting all the clears and being able to get it out especially on corner kicks,” Casper said. “We did a good job with that because I know they’re good at finishing them.” And the last corner kick? “I had to really punch that out there,” she said. “I saw the clock was running out and I’m like, ‘That can’t go in.’ It was amazing. I was happy to do it for my team.”
