By Liz Keller

Published: May 9, 2008

Many people in the sports world will say that it’s not about how you start a game, it’s how you finish.
But the Covenant girls soccer team would beg to differ.
The Eagles, ranked No. 1 in the VISAA Division II poll, broke to a strong start against rival St. Anne’s-Belfield and never looked back as they cruised to a 4-0 victory and captured the League of Independent Schools title on Thursday.
Covenant (17-1-1) will host a first-round state tournament game on Tuesday at 5 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.
“It’s awesome. It’s the first time Covenant has won the LIS tournament and the third time we’ve beaten STAB this year,” said junior Erin Hauser, who scored two goals and had an assist in the win. “Throughout the year, we’ve started a little slowly. But the captains pushed the team during warm-ups and today we had a good start. Even though they were pressuring us, we pushed through. After the first goal, our spirits went up and it went well from there.”
Midway through the first half, neither team had been able to get many shots on goal, but at the 16:05 mark, the Eagles got the break they needed.
Hauser used some nifty footwork to get out of a corner and around a defender and laid the ball into the back of the net to give her team a 1-0 lead.
“It was unfortunate. They heard the whistle over there [at the lacrosse game] and they stopped,” said St. Anne’s coach Mark O’Donnell. “And Covenant’s a good team, and they finished well. We kind of paused a bit and they punished us for it. Covenant is very well-coached, they have a lot of technical ability and they are a very deserving champion.”
Covenant kept its intensity up the rest of the way, adding another goal with 7:00 left in the first half. Alyse Marotta notched the score as she lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Caitlin Morris’ head.
Hauser added her second goal in the second half off a short pass from Katie Estep and Hannah Klein tapped in a goal with 14:00 to play.
“They’ve worked really hard and they’ve played together more and more all season,” said Covenant coach Pat Campbell. “And I think this game was a culmination of the team that’s really working for each other. We’ve been very blessed with our players starting in February. We’ve been blessed with a lack of injuries, and these players just really support each other. And that’s what happens when they support each other so well.”
STAB (9-4-2) will have to wait until Saturday to see if it earns a bid to the VISAA Division I tournament.
The Saints, led by senior goalkeeper Morris, have made great strides since the beginning of the season. STAB, which returned four players from last year’s squad, is in its first year of playing in the spring.
“When I look back at our season, when we played them the second game, we lost 2-0 that day and I thought they dominated,” O’Donnell said. “And I am so proud of our improvement. I thought this was the best we’ve played them. We came a long way, and we continued to play hard. I am very proud of the fact that we kept playing to win.”