St. Anthony's dominates St. Mary's of Lancaster en route to to CHSAA state Class AA title

St. Anthony’s had a vision at the dawn of the girls soccer season, to once again hoist the CHSAA state championship trophy on its final day. The Friars then pursued it with dogged determination at every practice and in every game. And on Sunday night, that vision became a reality.

St. Anthony’s dominated St. Mary’s from upstate Lancaster for the entire 80 minutes of the championship game and came away with a decisive 3-0 victory in the state title game at St. John’s University’s Belson Stadium.

The Friars carried a burning desire to win this crown for more than a year, since they entered the 2023 NSCHSGAA championship unbeaten, unscored upon and on track for a third straight state crown only to be stunned by Sacred Heart.

“We saw it as a mission,” said Avrie Nelsen, one of 18 seniors who coach Scott Carey described as the rudder that steered this team all season. “You take it one game at a time to get here and, once we did, we weren’t going home empty-handed.”

“They did everything they could and everything they needed to and never wavered in their belief we would win the last game,” Carey said. “They wanted to get back to the top and were completely determined.”

St. Anthony’s (17-1-1) is the state champion for the fifth time since 2015 and third time in four seasons.

The seniors may have been the engine that drove the Friars, but it was a pair of sophomores who put them in the driver’s seat. With senior Isabelle Maurino and sophomore Tatiana Pinto constantly disrupting the St. Mary’s offense, St. Anthony’s played most of the first half in the Lancers’ end of the field. Finally sophomore Olivia Shaw went on a run down the right side and found sophomore Braylin Nelsen (Avrie’s sister) positioned in front of the goal for a clean shot and a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute.

“It’s my first year and I immediately saw the level of competitiveness on this team,” Braylin Nelsen said. “I knew that they lost last year, so I wanted to bring something to the team that would benefit them and get the championship back home.”

Next it was Avrie Nelsen’s turn. Senior Molly Hiney set up for a direct kick near midfield and most of the Friars took positions on the left side of the field. However, Hiney went right and Avrie Nelsen was there to corral the pass, turn and get off a shot across the goalmouth and into the left side of the net in the 50th minute.

Senior Elliana Dos Santos added a goal with 5:06 to play off a pass from senior Peyton DiLello.

The defensive tone set by Maurino and Pinto in the first half never gave way after the break. The Lancers (15-2-1) got only two solid scoring opportunities in the game and Friars senior goalkeeper Jules Mosca needed to make only one save.

At the final horn, the Friars mobbed each other near midfield and eventually went to a dogpile before hoisting the championship trophy.

“We came here to take it back,” Pinto said. “We weren’t going to be denied tonight.”

With each of them scoring a goal in the championship game victory, this was a perfect ending for the Nelsen sisters. Avrie Nelsen is bound for Villanova next fall and this was their only chance to play together.

“It's my only year that I'm ever going to be able to play with her, so it's definitely special,” Braylin Nelsen said. “I definitely knew that we needed to get something out of it.”

“We’ve never played on a team together and . . . she was great,” Avrie Nelsen said. “When she scored, I was super happy. And then for me to score, too, was just great.”

Maurino was asked to look back on accomplishing the team’s mission and said: “It was a group effort and we were really determined after what happened last year. It’s the ending we all wanted.”

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.