Ryan girls beat Wood in two OTs for Catholic League title

The Archbishop Ryan girls' soccer team waited five years to beat Archbishop Wood. Sunday afternoon wound up being worth the wait.

Taylor Woods broke free from a couple of Vikings defenders and buried the winning goal 54 seconds into the second overtime period as the top-seeded Ragdolls won their second straight Catholic League title with a 1-0 victory over second-seeded Wood.

After Woods got the shot off, she tumbled to the ground. The sophomore had to rely on sound to discover what had happened.

"The only reason I knew it went in is because I heard everyone screaming," Woods said. "It was the best feeling."

Before Sunday, the Ragdolls (20-1) had not beaten Archbishop Wood (13-5-3) since the 2008 Catholic League final.

Jazmin Gonzalez stopped four shots for the Ragdolls, but possibly her biggest save of the day won't be noted in the box score. As the game wore on, some Ryan players were tiring and by the end of regulation looked downright gassed.

Gonzalez wouldn't allow it.

Before the first overtime period, as head coach Ryan Haney was giving a pep talk to the team, the junior goalkeeper stood up and started providing some inspirational words of her own.

Haney let her have the stage.

"It was actually the first time she's ever stepped up and said something in that moment," Haney said. "She said, 'Let's go. Let's go out and get it.' That was a great moment."

"I knew that we wanted it more," Gonzalez said. "We would talk about how we couldn't wait until this moment. Everybody wanted it so much."

Senior Deanna Messner made 10 saves for the Vikings. Many of them came on goalmouth scrambles that Ryan could not capitalize on.

Now that the five-year drought is over, the Ragdolls have their eyes set on bigger things. Ryan will face the winner of Monday night's Public League final between Franklin Towne Charter and Central. That contest will be on Wednesday night, with the District 12 championship and an automatic berth in the state tournament on the line.

That's still a few days away, though. After the long wait, Haney and his Ragdolls will take time to relish this moment.

"It was a long time coming," Haney said.

Archbishop Ryan 0 0 0 1 - 1

Archbishop Wood 0 0 0 0 - 0

Goals: AR-Taylor Woods.

Saves: AR-Jazmin Gonzalez 4; Deanna Messner 10.