That belief was evident as senior captain Delaney Lechner reluctantly accepted the state runner-up trophy from the PIAA’s Pat Gebhart after a hard-fought 2-0 loss at Bobcat Stadium on the campus of Northeastern High School that could have gone either way.

“I’m super proud,” DeLeo said. “We’re obviously disappointed today, because this was a winnable game. But the effort they put in for several years, especially the seniors, to get to this point is impressive. I’m super happy for the community and the team. I wish it turned out differently, but we’re super pleased with how we did this year.”

The Lady Marauders finished 21-2-0 and became the first girls soccer team to represent District 6 in the PIAA championship game.

But Saturday night, the Faith Christian defense proved to be impenetrable.

Photo for the Mirror by Jeremy Boland Bishop Guilfoyle’s Hailey DeGol moves the ball ahead next to Faith Christian’s Charlie Sauers.

“We watched a lot of film on them, and we were prepared,” BG senior Hailey DeGol said. “But we didn’t realize how strong their defense would be and how outnumbered we would be on defense.”

Though possession was evenly split throughout the game, the difference turned out to be Faith Christian senior Sophia Dennis finding space from about 20 yards out on two shots — one set up by Charlie Sauers with 23:32 to play in the first half and one by Blanca Mir-Diaz with 11:07 remaining that basically sealed the victory.

Both were rockets into the upper portion of the goal, and the second nicked the top of the crossbar and went between that bar and the outstretched hands of Bishop Guilfoyle keeper Abrie “CeCe” Rumfola.

“There wasn’t anything Cece could have done,” DeLeo said. “She made enough saves. They got a couple good breaks on those shots for sure.”

Faith Christian’s offensive gameplan centered on getting Dennis the ball in space.

“We know if we can get the ball on Sophia’s foot, she’s got a very good shot,” Faith Christian coach Ben Sauers said. “She’s deadly up top. If she has the space and the time, she can put it pretty much anywhere she wants in the goal. She did that tonight.”

Dennis said her second score relaxed the Lady Lions after Bishop Guilfoyle had a couple decent looks at tying the game early in the second half.

“That was a huge relief, especially because there wasn’t a whole lot of time left in the game,” Dennis said. “We knew that would probably secure the win.”

The first 10 minutes of the match didn’t see much action, but with 29:05 to play in the first half, the Lady Marauders threatened to take a 1-0 lead.

Leading scorer Emma Marasco found herself behind the Faith Christian defense, but as she prepared to take her shot, Lady Lions keeper Kendal Robison came out of the goal and dove onto the ball before Marasco could get a shot off.

“Kendal has been impressive this year,” Sauers said. “We started the year without a goalie. She played striker and played up front most of her time in school. We didn’t have a goalie, and she was gracious enough to fill that role for the team — and man she has just gotten so much better over the season. She really grew into the role of being that goalkeeper we needed.”

Getting that early lead would have been key according to DeLeo.

“We really wanted to score early, and we had some good opportunities,” DeLeo said. “That’s just the way this game is sometimes. The goals don’t always happen.”

Bishop Guilfoyle got two corner kicks in the second half and nearly scored on one of them. Another scoring chance, with 32 minutes left, came when DeGol intercepted a pass and tried to set Marasco up in the box before the lone Faith Christian defender back was able to break it up before a shot.

“Their middle and back defense is very good — it’s not like we didn’t know that going in,” DeLeo said. “But we just had trouble ripping as many quality shots as we would have liked to. We had some quality opportunities with that being said. We had a good corner that darn near went in.”

Rumfola made 11 saves to keep the match close, but with the defense Faith Christian was playing, Dennis’ goal with 11:07 left made a tough road back nearly impossible. But BG never stopped pushing for a goal and controlled play for most of the final 10 minutes.

“I’ll remember how we always stuck together as a team,” DeGol said. “We had a lot of good comeback wins from not giving up.”

Bishop Guilfoyle will lose three seniors — DeGol, Lechner and Payton Ronan — to graduation.

“I’ll just remember practicing and being with my teammates,” Lechner said. “We have such a great bond, and we are truly a family. I loved being able to share this special season with them.”

The Lady Marauders finally broke through into the state championship game after a couple of close calls the last two seasons. They made it to the PIAA semifinals in 2023 before losing to Riverview and fell to eventual state runner-up Springdale in the PIAA quarterfinals last year.

“It felt amazing,” DeGol said. “We were all so proud of ourselves. We knew win or lose this game, we were still proud of the accomplishment of getting here.”

The Lady Marauders, who won the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference and District 6 championships, might not have won gold on Saturday, but the seniors were celebrating something that will last longer than the feeling of victory following the match.

“They are honestly not just teammates but friends that I’m going to have for life,” DeGol said. “We formed greater friendships on the team, and that means more than anything.”

SCORE BY HALVES

Bishop Guilfoyle 0 0 — 0

Faith Christian 1 1 — 2

First Half: FC–Dennis (Sauers), 23:32.

Second Half: FC–Dennis (Mir-Diaz), 11:07.

Officials: Bill Garrison, Holly Beyers, Steve Jacoby.

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle Academy (21-2-0); Faith Christian Academy (18-4-1).