By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Highlands soccer teams experienced a disappointing deja vu in the boys and girls state championship matches on Saturday at Fredrick Douglass High School in Lexington.
Both teams faced the same opponent as their last trip to the state finals in 2008 and the results were unfortunately the same. Louisville Sacred Heart edged Highlands, 2-1, for the girls title and Louisville St. Xavier blanked Highlands, 1-0, in the boys season finale.
Sacred Heart has now won six state soccer finals, including a 2-0 win over Highlands in 2008. St. Xavier beat Highlands, 7-2, in the boys final that same year and now has 14 state championship trophies.
In the girls final on Saturday, Sacred Heart scored the deciding goal with 16 minutes left in the second half on a free kick by Estelle Gabriel from 30 yards out. It was the Valkyries’ third win against Highlands this season.
Both teams scored early in the match. An unassisted goal by Ashley Durik gave Sacred Heart a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute. Highlands tied it in the 14th minute on a header by sophomore Kenzie Nehus off a pass by junior Maria Broering.
The Valkyries had a 10-3 advantage in shots on goal. Highlands junior goalkeeper Maggie Hinegardner made three of her eight saves in the first 20 minutes of the second half before Gabriel got the tie-breaking goal.
Gabriel was named most valuable player on the state all-tournament team that included three Highlands players — senior defender Hannah Hartman, senior midfielder Hanna Buecker and Nehus.
The Bluebirds ended the season with a 23-5 record. Seven of the 11 players in the starting lineup were juniors or sophomores, but the team will be losing senior forward Lindsey Meyer, the program’s all-time leading scorer who had 28 goals this season.
In the boys state final, St. Xavier striker Conner George got the lone goal 29 seconds after the opening kickoff and Highlands was held scoreless for only the third time this season.
The Bluebirds were limited to four shots on goal and St. Xavier goalkeeper Dolan Dugan handled all of them to post his team’s third consecutive shutout in the state tournament and 17th of the season.
The Highlands players named to the state all-tournament team were junior midfielder Porter Hedenberg, senior defender Devin Harris and senior forward Luke Schweitzer, who scored a team-high 15 goals this season.
Harris and Schweitzer were two of the six seniors in the starting lineup for the Bluebirds, who finished the season with a 23-2-3 record and held 27 of their opponents to one goal or less.