Maeve Morgan scored three goals against the best defense in 2A Saturday as No. 1 Scottsdale Prep took down No. 2 Scottsdale Christian, 5-3 in the state title game at Mountain Pointe. 
It's the first soccer championship in school history for Scottsdale Prep, while Scottsdale Christian fell in the title game for the second time in five years. 
"These girls deserve all the credit in the world," Scottsdale Prep coach Denise Niccoli said afterward. 
"They went out and got this. We knew what a great defense Scottsdale Christian had, but they just kept attacking and fighting. We knew we'd get some opportunities to score, and what can I say about Maeve? She came up huge today." 
 

Morgan scored seven minutes into the first half and added two more goals in the second half. Her third goal gave the Spartans a 5-1 lead with 13 minutes left in the game, before Scottsdale Christian scored twice to make the last five minutes interesting.  
"We knew they had a good defense," Morgan said of Scottsdale Christian, which had only allowed seven goals all season. "We knew it was going to be a challenge, but we trusted in the work that we put in. We just went at them with a no regrets mindset." 

After Morgan's early goal, Scottsdale Christian's Campbell Reader tied the score in the 30th minute of the first half. But Scottsdale Prep came right back on a goal from Adeena Fever in the same minute, and the Spartans had a 2-1 halftime lead. Katie An scored 12 minutes into the second half before Maeve sscored twice more for the 5-1 lead.

Nola Bynum and Hannah Lopez added two goals for Scottsdale Christian, and the score was 5-3 with 5:27 left, but Scottsdale Prep held on from there.

The Spartans finished 15-0-1, while the Eagles finished 12-2, with its only losses coming to Scottsdale Prep.

"Unfortunately (Scottsdale Prep) had a little more than us today," Scottsdale Christian coach Mike Philipp said. "We felt good coming into this game. It's tough getting here and losing, but it also says something about our team and these girls. We finished the season with our heads held high."