The Rhoades sisters' tally in the 46th minute was the difference as Padua nipped St. Mark's 1-0 Saturday night at Wesley College in a skillfully played and passionately contested state final.

The scoreless tie was broken six minutes past halftime. Kortney, a sophomore, curled a corner kick from the left directly to her older sister, a junior, stationed a few yards out from the far post. She needed just one touch with her knee.

"Megan Watson and Megan Bastianelli [from St. Mark's] both went up, and I fell off and just kind of stuck my knee out there," Brittiny said. "[Kortney] played the ball perfectly."

"That's the margin of our two losses to them," St. Mark's coach Tom DeMatteis said, referring to a hip and a knee. "That sends all these [St. Mark's] girls home sad."

St. Mark's had a chance to equalize a few minutes later when Laura McCoy sent a cross to the right post toward the hard-charging Caitlin Myers, who couldn't cut it off before the ball rolled out of bounds.

"It was an evenly matched game, and it took a set piece to win," Padua fifth-year coach Scott Smith said. "They had their chances on corners and we happened to put ours away, then we held on."

Sure-handed Padua goalkeeper Caitlin Lafferty made nine saves while being fronted by defenders Kaitlin O'Connor, Megan Gainey, Lindsey Campbell, Katie Rudolph and Ashley Ainsworth. The Pandas did not allow a goal in four tourney games.

Top-seeded Padua (17-2) had never gotten past the quarterfinals in the tournament's 12-year history. The Pandas edged St. Mark's for their first Catholic Conference title this spring. St. Mark's beat Padua 2-1 on May 3.

No. 2 seed St. Mark's (15-4-1) was playing in the title game for the eighth time and seeking its fifth state championship. The Spartans lost 1-0 in last year's final to Charter School.

"They had the energy in the second half we had in the first half," DeMatteis said. "We didn't possess the ball consistently to give [Lafferty] a lot of tough chances to handle, but she was sure-handed on the ones we did."

St. Mark's had the best scoring chance in the first half. But Lafferty came out to thwart Liz DeMatteis, who had won possession and gotten behind the defense in the 11th minute.

Just before that, St. Mark's goalkeeper Bastianelli had left her line to pluck a dangerous cross out of the air. St. Mark's had a couple of earlier chances on corner kicks, but couldn't get a clear shot.

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