About five minutes into the second half of a scoreless game, Waynesville's Samantha Erbach sent a shot right by Mariemont goalie Ericka Dewey that bounced off of the crossbar.
Just 52 seconds later, Erbach got another chance. The goal was all the Spartans needed to beat Mariemont 1-0 and win the Division III regional final.
"Caroline Stupp found her on the outside," Waynesville head coach Kelley Bricker said. "(She) did a nice job. I like that Sam changed up her approach on that shot. Instead of going power, she read the keeper and finessed it by her. I though that was a very nice play."
For a one goal game, some big defense needs to step up and both teams brought it in different fashions.
Dewey allowed just the one goal, but could have allowed many more. Waynesville had offensive possession for the majority of the game and Dewey's defense and stops were why the Spartans only found the net once.
"She was phenomenal tonight," Mariemont head coach Mike Haney said of his keeper. "The entire squad was phenomenal tonight. That's a good team."
On the Waynesville defensive side, the Warriors struggled to put shots on goal and went stretches without decent looks.
"Gracyn Armstrong in the net wasn't as busy as she's been before, but she made the saves we needed her to make," Bricker said. "We had great play from our four defenders: Savanna Amburgy, Kate Handle, Emme Greely, Laine Kuhns.
"They did a really nice job of containing the attack and in supporting one another in support of those runs that cut loose."
Mariemont's best chances came in the final minutes. The Warriors kept the ball down by the Waynesville net and kept heavy pressure until the clock ran out.
"We didn't start playing desperate or anything," Haney said. "We just kind of found our groove a little bit and it just wasn't enough."
After losing to Cincinnati Country Day in the regional finals in 2019 and 2020, the Warriors finished the year at 14-4-2 in its third-straight regional final defeat.
"I'm really proud of these girls," Haney said. "I wouldn't say we exceeded expectations. We expected to be here. We expected to see either Waynesville or CCD. The season played out pretty much how we thought it would play out. But you have to get over this hump.
Waynesville improved to 15-6 and will make its second state tournament appearance and first since 2002.
The Spartans face a quick turnaround, playing against Winchester Eastern on Tuesday in the state semifinals. Game site and time will be announced later.
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