Now it’s the Cardinals’ turn.

Jacksonville’s girls soccer team has its elusive state title.

Jacksonville defeated South Point 0-0 (3-2 in PKs) on Saturday in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3A girls soccer state championship, hosted for the first time at the Mecklenburg County SportsPlex in Matthews.

In a county known for soccer — there have been 15 state championship girls teams — and at a school known for success in the sport on the boys’ side — reaching the finals six times — the Jacksonville girls had been left out.

The Cardinals had only reached the state title in 2016, finishing runner-up.

Jacksonville (21-1-4), the second seed from the East, now has its own hardware.

Despite playing 80 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime, it took until penalty kicks for either team to score.

It wasn’t because there weren’t chances though. Late in the second half, Jacksonville was awarded a corner kick and Riley Connelly scored — but it was waived off for interference.

In penalty kicks, both teams missed the first attempt, then made their second attempts. South Point missed its third attempt, but Landyn Wessels connected on hers to give the Cardinals an advantage.

Azumi Oka also connected on a penalty kick for Jacksonville, then the Cardinals got a save on an attempt by Elle Bare to secrue the win.

South Point (18-3-2), the fourth seed in the West, had been hoping to do one better than last year’s state runner-up finish to Eastern Alamance. Like the Cardinals, the Red Raiders were making their second appearance in a state final and hoping for a first title.

Before the game, each team honored one player as its NCHSAA sportsmanship award winner. For South Point, it was Madison Dudley. For Jacksonville, it was Macey Helmstetter.

Source: highschoolot.com