TEA – It doesn’t get much closer than this.

Aberdeen Central was literally inches away multiple times from a coveted second goal, but in the end came away empty in a thrilling Class AA State Girls’ Soccer championship game Saturday afternoon in Tea.

Harrisburg nailed a penalty kick in the 69th minute for the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over the Golden Eagles in a match that went down to the closing seconds.

“The championship game is just going to come down to effort once in a while and it’s just going to come down to those breaks,” said Central coach Merle Aske, “and we just didn’t get those breaks today.”

Playing with the wind, the Tigers scored on a corner kick by Ella Weide in the seventh minute of the contest for a lead that held up throughout the rest of the half.

Central was unable to get much going or pressure the Harrisburg goal in the first 40 minutes.

“A lot of it was the wind,” Aske said. “That wind was swirling and going around, and it was tough to get forward and the ball just bounced everywhere.”

That changed in the second half as the Golden Eagles began putting together solid scoring chances and eventually tied the game in the 59th minute when a blast from Deshani Peters on a free kick caromed off the cross bar right to Taryn Hettich who bumped the ball into the goal.

“It just went off my chest. It definitely hurt, but it was kind of just surreal,” Hettich said. “It was like, ‘whoop’ it went in. It was a great feeling.”

Central had a chance to take the lead 10 minutes later, but a shot bounced off the right post. The Golden Eagles then had a free kick from just outside the box in the 64th minute, but couldn’t connect. Less than 35 seconds later, Central had another shot that deflected off the cross bar.

Eventually, Harrisburg was awarded a penalty kick after a foul was whistled in front of the Central goal. Hailee Christensen promptly deposited the shot into the upper left corner of the goal to give the Tigers the lead.

Central wasn’t finished, yet, though. The Golden Eagles had another shot bang off the cross bar in the 71st minute, then had two corner kicks in the 77th minute, but were unable to find the back of the net.

“We had three off the cross bar I think and one off the post,” Aske said, “so we had chances.”

The victory avenged Harrisburg’s only setback of the season, a 2-0 loss in Aberdeen back in September.

“Merle has built a great program up there in Aberdeen,” said Harrisburg coach Eric Christensen. “This is the first time that Harrisburg I think has ever beaten Aberdeen in all of the years that we’ve been playing them.”

And it all came down to a few inches in the closing minutes.

“Deshani down here with the left to right wind, she’s a great left-footed striker,” Coach Christensen said. “And she got two or three chances at hooking it in, because that’s what she did to us in Aberdeen.”

However, this time, the Golden Eagles just could not quite come up with another goal and ended up finishing as state runner-up.

“The first one just kind of fell into our laps and after that we just couldn’t get another one to find the back, but it’s all right,” Hettich said. “I’m proud of us, proud of our team. We’ve had a great season. You can’t take away anything that we’ve accomplished, ESD champs, that’s great. We made it here. Can’t ask for anything more. We pushed to the end.”

And as Coach Christensen pointed out, in the end, the title contest came down to just three plays where action came to a standstill.

“It’s funny. Today the game was decided on three per se set plays: a corner kick, a free kick where it hit the cross bar and rebounded, and Hailee finished with a PK,” he said. “That’s the tough thing about soccer. You can play for 80 minutes and three plays where you’re standing still decide a game.”

The Tigers finished the season with a 16-1-1 record and the state championship in a hard-fought battle.

“Winning state titles should not be a given,” Coach Christensen said. “It should be earned and these girls earned every last bit of it, and I’m very excited for them.”

Hettich reflected on her time spent with the Golden Eagles as she played in her final game with the program.

“It’s been great. The atmosphere is awesome. The girls are great. Our coach has always got our backs,” Hettich said. “It’s a great program and I’m proud of the six years I’ve been able to be a part of it.”

Central capped the year with a 13-2-1 record.

“It was a really good year,” Aske said. “We accomplished everything we wanted except for the state title.”

The Golden Eagles return the bulk of their squad for next season and will try to make another big run at the state championship.

“Whenever you lose a state title game it’s going to hurt, but these girls are proud of their effort and they’re proud of everything that they’ve accomplished this year,” Aske said. “Going forward a lot of good players are coming back, so we’ll just start over again in July and get at it again.”

Aberdeen Central 0 1 – 1

Harrisburg 1 1 – 2

First Half

1, H, Ella Weide, 7^th minute.

Second Half

2, AC, Taryn Hettich (Deshani Peters), 59^th minute; 3, H, Hailee Christensen (Penalty Kick), 69^th minute.

Shots on Goal: Aberdeen Central 9; Harrisburg 11.

Goalies: Aberdeen Central, Ciara Frank (9 saves); Harrisburg, Stella Litzen 6 saves).