WOODRUFF — It was fairly obvious that the bath of ice water Woodruff High School girls’ soccer coach Fernando Gomez was about to get from his players after the game Monday night wasn’t going to feel great. But on this particular cool, breezy May evening, Gomez didn’t seem to mind at all.

The Wolverines beat Walhalla 1-0 behind a first-half goal from Casey Black, and for the second straight year will represent the upper state in the AA girls’ championship game Friday in Columbia.

Black got free for just a second after receiving a throw-in and immediately rifled a shot with her left foot that squeezed by the Razorbacks’ standout goalkeeper Cricket Wise for the game’s only score.

"They’re a great team and (Black) is incredible,” Walhalla coach James Powell said. “Once we figured out we needed to mark her, I felt like we figured out we could play with them pretty well. It was just a goal too late.”

It seemed like the goal, which came in just the game’s ninth minute, would kick-start the powerful Woodruff scoring attack, as they had already missed a few chances before that.

But instead, the Walhalla defense tightened and the rest of the game was a nail-biter for Woodruff, who outscored their first two playoff opponents by a combined 11-1.

“It was nerve-racking,” senior defender Hannah Kelly said. “It was a lot of pressure to keep them from scoring, but we have confidence in our team…and we pretty much controlled the whole game.”

Late in the game, Walhalla moved sweeper Alyssa Doby up towards the front line, and even tried playing Wise, their keeper, as far forward as she could go to manufacture a game-tying goal late.

But Woodruff’s defense, led by Kelly, swarmed to any balls that wandered near the box and Wolverines’ senior goalie Jordan Lawson saved everything that got past her back line of defense.

“The girls played hard, we just didn’t finish very well,” Powell added. “We didn’t take enough shots or hit enough shots. But we have to give credit to Woodruff; they pass the ball great, and they’re well-coached.”