FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Jim Thorpe’s incredible girls’ soccer season got even more impressive Thursday night.

The Olympians won the school’s first-ever Schuylkill League championship in the sport, defeating Pottsville 1-0 in a game played on North Schuylkill High School’s Ghosh Field.

Jim Thorpe’s goal came just over five minutes into the game when Alexis “Lexi” Marotto had the ball near the left sideline and saw an alley to the goal. Her shot - from about the 10-yard-line - was perfect, flying untouched into the Crimson Tide’s netting with 34:44 showing on the clock.

When asked how his defense was able to record another shutout - its 15th of the season and eighth in its last nine games - Jim Thorpe coach Tom Condly laughed, “A short goalie and fast defenders.”

The goalkeeper, junior Olivia Rosenberger, is one of the shortest goaltenders in the league, and one of the shortest players on the Olympian squad. But, she’s fast and extremely focused.

In addition, her teammates gave her plenty of protection as they kept a human shield around her whenever the Crimson Tide encroached.

“They just play well together,” said Condly. “They never give up. I don’t know if it’s a secret that they want to win. They have the desire.”

“We practice defense all year round. We value it. So when we went up 1-0, we felt very confident the way these games were going.”

Condly was referring to the fact that the Olympians and Crimson Tide have a history of low-scoring games. This was the third time this year the two teams played to a 1-0 finish, with Thursday night’s game being the rubber match. The first two times the teams met during the regular season, both games had double overtime finishes. In September, Pottsville handed JT its only loss of the season. On Oct. 11, the Olympians won.

Condly gave credit to Marotto for her goal, and Rosenberger for her goalie ability, but stressed, “I think our whole team is a star. Everybody contributes.”

Pottsville Coach Bob Stock said both teams showed great defense. “Four goals in three games; make that four games because two of the games were double overtime. They got the upper hand tonight.”

Stock felt one of the best offensive performances for his team came from junior Grace Evans, “who was all over the field.” Evans had three shots on goal, but all of them resulted in saves by Rosenberger.

Both teams came close to scoring on other occasions - very close.

Early in the second half, the Olympian’s Mackenzie Yuhas had a shot from the left side that whizzed past the outside of the net by about an inch. Later, JT senior Lauren LeKites fired the ball goalward, but Pottsville’s Kiera Bolkovich jumped in front in the nick of time.

DOMINATION ... Jim Thorpe (16-1-1 overall) has now outscored its opponents by a whopping 128-5 margin this season.

JUST AWESOME

... Although the soccer program is fairly new at Jim Thorpe (it started in 2008), Condly said his team has been flirting with a championship in recent years before finally getting it this year. “We’ve been on a roll the last four years and we’ve come close,” he said. “To achieve it this year is just awesome.”

DEFENSIVE STRUGGL

E ... Although goalie Rosenberger deserves a lot of credit for keeping opponents from scoring, there’s no question that the team as a whole is extremely impressive defensively. The Crimson Tide was able to take six shots on goal - but just two of them in the second half. Jim Thorpe also had six shots on goal, with three of them coming from LeKites.

WHAT’S NEXT?

... Jim Thorpe should be the top seed in the District 11 Class 2A bracket. There are some excellent teams in the class, including once-beaten EPC member Allentown Central Catholic and Colonial League powers Northwestern and Palmerton. Meanwhile, Pottsville (12-5-2 overall) plays in the 3A division, and is presently seeded second behind Southern Lehigh.