The Titans, who also lost to Hershey in the semifinals last season, posted a 19-4-1 record and finished on top of The Inquirer's Top 10 for the year. They recovered after losing to Souderton, 2-0, for the second time this season on Oct. 12 and went on to win the District 1 championship for the first time in the school's young history. They had a 10-game winning streak going when Hershey ended it.

"We showed that we weren't a joke, that we could play with the best," said senior Kate Schneider. "We can't be disappointed at what we've done."

Sarah Hughes, another senior who scored the Titans' lone goal against Hershey, called it "the best year we could have had."

"I will miss this team a lot."

Christina Ford, who succeeded Meg Hutchinson as the Titans' coach this year, had high praise for her seniors: Schneider, Hughes and Lindsay Osgood.

"I was lucky to have a such a senior class," she said. "They are nice, very coachable, and they get it."

A shot in the dark?

Hershey's Leslie Smith, whose overtime goal beat Central Bucks South, said she still can't believe the ball went into the goal cage.

"It was incredible that it went in," said the Michigan-bound senior. "I had no angle on it. I wasn't aiming anywhere. I just hit it with my stick and it went in."

Smith said that she was concerned with South holding a 1-0 lead at halftime.

"Coach [Tami Scola] gave us a good pep talk at halftime," Smith said. Smith's winning goal was her 17th goal of the season.

The Trojans will face another District 3 team, Lower Dauphin, in the PIAA Class AAA championship game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Whitehall. Hershey beat Lower Dauphin, 1-0, in overtime in a battle for the third-place spot from the district.

Looking back

Returning only three starters from last season, Villa Maria Academy coach Maurene Polley was hoping her team could "be in the mix" this season. Some mix!

Although the Hurricanes bowed to District 11 champion Lehighton, 3-0, in Tuesday's PIAA Class AA semifinals, it marked the third time they have been in final four in the last four years.

"It was disappointing to lose, but after looking back to where we started, I had to say it was amazing," said Polley, whose team finished 22-2. "Most of the players were brand new. We had our shortcomings, but we tried to eliminate some of those each week."

Polley cited goalie Anna Zarkoski, Marie Elena Bolles and Molly Murphy for helping to take the team to its final-four finish.

She also had high praise for Lehighton goalie Sara Snyder, who was a key reason for Villa's loss. Snyder made 13 stops, eight in the second half against Villa at Emmaus.

"She was incredible," Polley said. "I was told by someone that she said we gave her plenty of pressure. We just couldn't put the ball in the net."

Contact staff writer Don Beideman at 267-815-0733

or dbeideman@phillynews.com.