“Honestly, we’ve been preparing for this since the first practice in July,” Perez said. “Our goal all along was state.”

The Ashburn school is in its fifth year of existence. In each of its first four seasons, the field hockey team had lost in the state semifinals. This time, the Tigers (22-0) finished things off, winning the athletic program’s 10th state title.

Before coming to Independence, Coach Jennifer Darrow had won two state championships as an assistant at Westfield. After winning her first as a head coach Saturday, she wiped tears from her eyes before the medal ceremony.

“It’s very emotional,” she said. “There’s no team I’ve been more proud of than this team right here.”

Perez scored the game’s only goal midway through the second quarter, batting a rebound out of the air chest high from the left side of the goal.

“I saw the ball come off the goalkeeper, and I didn’t have time to think,” Perez said. “It was just instinct.”

From there, the Tigers’ airtight defense in front of goalkeeper Quin Demcsak did the rest. Darrow called a timeout midway through the fourth quarter to stress to her players that the state title was within reach.

She said her team has a simple philosophy when it comes to the defensive side of the game.

“Stay low, stay strong, and communicate,” Darrow said. “That’s all it takes.”

According to MaxPreps, this was the first time First Colonial has been shut out since 2020.

Perez said the Independence players and coaches had the opportunity to watch First Colonial play during the semifinals Friday, and the scouting helped them prepare for the championship game.

“They are very fast with the ball — that was really obvious to see,” Perez said. “We held up a little bit, stayed back a little more on defense than we usually do, because we knew how fast they are. But really we just tried to play our regular game of tough defense.”