Of the hundreds of 2A high-school soccer games played in the state of Washington this past fall, only one was sanctioned by the WIAA to coronate the best team in the state.

Having already established it was one of the teams to be reckoned with this year, after winning last year’s title and returning nine starters, the Fife Trojans accomplished the very sizable feat of becoming the first team in Washington state history to win back-to-back 2A soccer championships.

In a shootout following 90 minutes of scoreless soccer, Fife came away with a 1-0 victory over Cedarcrest on Nov. 22 on Jessica Colburn’s winning kick into the center of the goal, ending the shootout 4-3.

It was a perfect ending to a magical season, and some huge plays by senior goalkeeper Ryann Waldman punctuated the workmanlike melee of a typical state title game.

Waldman gave a clinic in defending her goal - dominating the penalty box, treating it like her personal kingdom with a stubborn defense of anything Cedarcrest could deliver - making diving catches, punches, scooping up low balls, stretching for high ones. Her athletic gifts and her judgment were on full display.

“Talk about world-class keepers in this game,” said Cedarcrest coach Denis Watts.

“She’s amazing,” said junior goalkeeper Stephanie McFarland, who will be taking over next year. “Pretty big job to fill,” she said.

Waldman led a defense this season that gave up only one goal all year, to Bellarmine Prep on Sept. 16. The Trojans scored 81 goals and finished the season with a 20-0-1 record.

Coach Teri Shimoda, surveying the joyful team celebrating on the field after the game, was trying to let it sink in.

“I just know that I saw an amazing group of girls play gutsy, determined soccer all year. And every time the bar was raised a little bit more, they didn’t back down. I know I just watched another great game - the back-to-back titles, that hasn’t really hit me yet,” Shimoda said.

The Fife defense department was once again tenacious. Waldman dominated in the goal (16 saves against Archbishop Murphy in the semifinal and 13 against Cedarcrest); Gena Gaylord and Shelby Hutton ran down everything that got near the 18-yard line; Haley Shaw, Kaylee Kramer, Maloree Langdon (who received the tournament’s sportsmanship award) and Colburn dug in and hampered crossing threats and totally frustrated the potent offenses of both Archbishop Murphy in the semifinal and Cedarcrest in the final.

Shaw did a brilliant job defending against Caroline Brawner, a national-caliber player from Archbishop Murphy. And in the finals, Shaw endured a bruising battle to win balls in the transition zone and regularly drove it up the field to set up Fife’s attack. It was Shaw who passed upfield to Amanda Roselli on her goal against Archbishop Murphy in the 39th minute, as Fife was successful with its counterattack down the wing against the very aggressive Archbishop Murphy offense.

Versatile senior Bailey Nirider, who seemingly plays every position on the field at any given point in a game, gave stability on the wing.

 “The word is ‘relentless’,” said Shaw after the championship game. “We told ourselves that was the way we were going to play until it was over.”

The Fife players - most of them have been together since the sixth grade - have been saying all along that they wanted to extend the season as long as they possibly could, and they did.

“It was a very emotional game,” said Roselli. “It really hit me at the beginning of the golden goal period. This was it.”

“The road was different this year, maybe not harder, but more intense,” said Waldman. “Every team we played gave us their best shot. It really hasn’t hit me yet that this is the last game I will play for my high-school team. All I know right now is that we ended it in a good way. Two state championships.”

Gaylord, who teammates say doesn’t get enough credit, said, “It is the most exciting feeling that you could ever have. I was just so happy to have this team this year, because I just trust them so much. It’s all of us back there, it’s a team thing.”

Kramer, Kaitlin McCaffrey and Roselli converted their kicks in the shootout, setting up Colburn’s heroic attempt.

Nothing came easy in this tournament for the Trojans; all the victories were mere one-goal margins. Hutton made a spectacular save behind Waldman in the 70th minute against Archbishop Murphy on a header that got over the keeper, Hutton hooking it out at the last second.

In the first-round game, after slogging through 88 scoreless minutes in a driving rain McCaffrey tapped in a goal off an unchecked crossing pass for the win.

Laurie Kilcup, a senior midfielder who was an important contributor all season long, was on crutches for the team’s final two games after being injured at the quarterfinals against Burlington-Edison.