St. Thomas Aquinas wins Kansas 5A girls state soccer championship by beating Blue Valley Southwest 2-1

The St. Thomas Aquinas girls soccer team all wore T-shirts with G.R.I.T. on them.

“It means get ready, it’s time,” Saints coach Craig Ewing said.

The Saints were ready Saturday in the Kansas 5A state championship match, scoring early and late in a 2-1 victory over Blue Valley Southwest at the College Boulevard Activity Center.

It is the sixth consecutive state title for the Saints, who finished 18-3 this season, and the 15th in the school’s history.

The game-winning goal came with 14 minutes, 44 seconds to play. The match tied at 1-1 and the ball was about 5 yards above the penalty box when Aquinas senior forward Jamie Kutey made the most of a scoring opportunity.

“The ball hit off one of their defenders,” Kutey said. “I got between them and put the ball on the far post.”

Kutey had both goals for the Saints after not playing in the first match between the two teams because of an ankle injury. BV Southwest beat the Saints 2-1 in overtime during the regular season.

“It’s an amazing feeling with all the hard work we put in,” Kutey said.

Kutey’s first goal came with 31:57 remaining in the first half.

“Someone had a touch in the box,” she said. “I got a foot on it and hoped for the best.”

Freshman goalkeeper Alia Calvert made several saves in the match. She played the entire season with a broken right wrist and had a cast on it.

“I hurt it playing indoor soccer,” she said. “It made me bobble the ball sometimes.”

BV Southwest dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half after trailing 1-0 at halftime.

The Timberwolves, who finished 18-3, tied the match with 21:59 remaining on a shot by junior Casey Gonzales.

They had a chance to tie the match with 6 minutes left off a corner kick, but a header hit the top of the crossbar and rolled over the net.

“Southwest was really good today,” Saints coach Craig Ewing said. “We had to play well to beat someone who was very good.”

Ewing praised the play of freshman Alexandra Moss, who defended Timberwolves senior midfielder Charlotte Davis.

“She is what makes them go and Moss did a great job on her,” Ewing said.

This was the second consecutive year that the two teams have met in the 5A state title match. Last year, the Saints won 2-1 in overtime on a goal by Kutey. The two schools also played in the championship match in 2011, the first year of Blue Valley Southwest’s existence, with Aquinas winning 5-0.

There were not a lot of shots on goal. The Saints won that battle 7-4.

This story was originally published May 30, 2015 at 5:41 PM with the headline "St. Thomas Aquinas wins Kansas 5A girls state soccer championship by beating Blue Valley Southwest 2-1."