Her smile kept growing, if that was possible. Izzy Hutnak bounced on the balls of her feet while keeping her grip on the Gold Ball.

“This is surreal,” she said.

Greely High turned in a dominating effort Saturday to win the Class B girls’ soccer state championship with a 6-0 win over Hermon at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Hutnak and Jocelyn Mitiguy scored twice for Greely. Courtney Sullivan and Lillian Black added scores. Anne DeWolfe made two assists.

The Rangers (16-2) won their fourth state title while Hermon (15-1-2) received the runners-up trophy for the second time in four years.

Greely last won the state championship in 2002.

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“We have watched this team growing up,” Hutnak said, “going to all the games as little kids, and wanting to be on the varsity team and wear the jersey.

“I never got to see a state championship – and to be on this team, it’s crazy.”

Greely outscored opponents 20-2 in the playoffs. While the Rangers did not score for nearly 30 minutes Saturday, they were pressuring. Greely out-shot Hermon 22-3 in the first half.

“I knew we had the momentum,” Coach Josh Muscadin said. “We had to keep at it, over and over.”

The Rangers controlled the field from end to end. The backs, led by Margaret Reed, Kelsey Otley, Katherine Steinberg and Susannah Jacobson, worked the ball up to Ellie Schad, Allison Coon, Sullivan and Skyler Cooney, and eventually onto the dangerous feet of Hutnak, Mitiguy and DeWolfe.

“In the entire season we haven’t played against a team that is that athletic and has the skill,” Hermon Coach M.J. Ball said. “Usually it’s one or the other.

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“It was tough for us.”

Still, Hermon created chances. After only eight minutes of a scoreless game, Emi Higgins of the Hawks sent in a free kick. Madison Cyr made the initial save, but the ball was loose and Hermon took another shot.

Reed stopped it the hard way.

“It hit off my face,” said Reed, who then cleared the ball out.

Cyr made seven saves. Bryanne Crouse of Hermon had a busy day with 18 saves.

“We definitely withstood a lot of pressure. Our goalkeeper did an outstanding job,” said Ball, whose hope was to keep it 0-0 at halftime, “and then we’d make adjustments.”

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But the Rangers finally broke through on one of several breakaways.

DeWolfe stole on the ball on a throw-in on the Greely end. She raced up and fed Mitiguy in full stride. Mitiguy blasted a score from inside the box for a 1-0 lead at 29:29 of the first half.

Hutnak made it 2-0, knocking in a rebound off a corner kick taken by Steinberg with 5:59 left in the half.

“Once we get that first one, the floodgates open,” Reed said.

Ball regrouped his team at halftime, down 2-0, and “we tried to sort it out … but Nos. 2 (Mitiguy) and 5 (Hutnak) were too much.”

At 6:35 of the second half, Sullivan worked a give-and-go with Hutnak, dribbled across the box and scored for a 3-0 lead.

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Five minutes later, Hutnak dribbled to her left and then tucked a ball into the far post. It was Hutnak’s seventh goal in the playoffs.

“Complete team effort,” she said.

At 26:55, Mitiguy also went far post and a 5-0 lead. Black finished the scoring, burying a cross from Kelsey Currier.

Mitiguy, who played on the Cumberland Soccer Club with Hutnak and others, knows her teammates well. She was not concerned when Greely did not score right away.

“I just looked to my teammates for support,” Mitiguy said. “We’re a very deep team. We can rely on anyone.

“We keep pushing and pushing until we get what we want.”

 

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