COMMERCE CITY • St. Mary’s backline sure made the old cliché about defense winning championships stand up Tuesday night.

Once Dawn Reachard scored 14 minutes into the Class 3A state title game against The Classical Academy, the Pirates seniors Amy Klopfenstein, Courtney King and Sam Buck and goalie Katie Loof held on for a 1-0 victory and their second straight championship.

“Our defense played the game of their life tonight and weren’t letting anything by them,” St. Mary’s leading scorer Christina Whitelaw said. “They’re the base of our team back there.”

Soon after Reachard scored, TCA junior Amara Nagel had a point-blank opportunity — one of just three shots on goal the Titans managed — but Loof was there to corral it.

Not until late in the second half did the Titans get any other chances to score.

“The last 6-7 minutes I thought they had a lot of pressure on us,” St. Mary’s coach Gregg Braha said. “And that was just sending Amara Nagel, Shea Haycock and Joanie Jacks forward. And those three are just frightening, I mean they’re terrifying.”

The Titans had two corners, a free kick and two good crosses in the final 10 minutes, but the Pirates held.

“Courtney was just running those down, Sam was just running them down and shoving them out like they’re supposed to,” Klopfenstein said. “We were just doing what we were supposed to be doing and it worked out for us.”

St. Mary’s Christina Whitelaw helped lead her team to back-to-back championships. Photo by KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE