Newman senior Avery Summerour waited three years to win another soccer match against Sacred Heart.
The past three meetings were less than satisfying. First came the playoff loss when Summerour and her senior teammates were freshmen. Then came the past two regular season matches that each ended in a draw.
In the latest match played Monday at Pan American Stadium, Summerour and senior teammate Kingsland LeBourgeois scored the two goals Newman needed for a 2-1 victory that handed Sacred Heart its first loss this season.
"This is a nice kind of revenge game for our senior year," Summerour said. "Losing to them freshman year and tying them the past two years, it's nice to go out with a win."
Summerour scored in the 22nd minute when she curved a right-footed corner kick into the net without it being touched by another teammate. The next goal came 12 minutes later, when LeBourgois placed a shot inside the far post off a feed from senior Catherine Lapeyre for a 2-0 lead that Newman (6-1-1) took into halftime.
Summerour said her curved shot from the corner came naturally as a winger accustomed to long crossing passes that happen to bend in that direction.
Sacred Heart coach Michael Plaisance told his players to watch for that kind of shot attempt whenever Summerour lined up to attempt a corner kick.
"We actually talked about it," said Plaisance, who noted that type of shot attempt is called in an Olimpico.
For the next goal, LeBourgeois credited Lapeyre with an "amazing pass" that gave her an open look.
"For the past three years, we've all been clicking, especially this year, we've been clicking really quickly," LeBourgeois said. "And I think it's just because we've been playing together."
The lone goal for Sacred Heart (9-1-1) came when senior Taylor Robert headed in a corner kick from senior Charlotte Bush in the 52nd minute.
Sacred Heart scored roughly one minute after Newman keeper CeCe Pinkerton made a diving one-handed stop of a breakaway shot by Sacred Heart sophomore Skylar Baptiste.
"That was amazing," Plaisance said about the save by Pinkerton. "She did really well for them."
Sacred Heart failed to capitalize on its scoring chances in the first half. The Cardinals were 0-for-6 on corner kicks before the break but scored on their first corner in the second half. Newman did not allow many scoring chances the rest of the way.
"Games like this, rivalry games, are always scrappy," Newman coach Doug Freese said. "Both teams will always play really hard. Neither team will play the quality of soccer they will in every other game because you're so focused on beating your rival."
Newman, the two-time reigning Division IV state champion, defeated Sacred Heart for the first time since the current seniors were freshmen in a 2-1 victory in the regular season.
The one loss for Newman this season came against reigning Division III champion Parkview Baptist. Sacred Heart, now in Division III, will not face Newman again until next season.