As the defending WPIAL champions and PIAA co-champions, the South Park girls' soccer team was considered a favorite entering the season.

Yet Shelly Thropp and her team came into the year with an underdog mentality. After all, the Eagles were going to have to replace five senior starters who graduated.

"When you are replacing five players out of 11, it makes a big difference and it's a different team," Thropp said. "When you are not the underdog, it is difficult. Everyone was saying that we were back and the team to beat. We just took a different approach as the underdogs because we graduated so many players."

The "underdog" Eagles finished a 14-3-1 regular season, won the Section 1-AA title and won the school's third consecutive WPIAL girls' soccer title. The team also finished second in the state.

South Park stretched its postseason unbeaten streak to 15 games on the way to Hersheypark Stadium and the PIAA playoffs for the second consecutive year. The Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Montoursville on a Jackie Wolf goal, but the lead only lasted 22 seconds. Montoursville answered with a goal and followed with two more to defeat South Park, 3-1, in Saturday's championship game.

"We scored a goal and they came right back and scored," Thropp said. "We didn't even have time to be confident. It was exciting to get a lead but it didn't last.

"I wish that we could have been a little more focused after we scored. We just lost our confidence and couldn't keep up with them."

The quick goals were a change of pace from the state title game last year when South Park battled Villa Joseph Marie to a scoreless tie. The teams shared the title.

Along the way to Hershey this year, South Park breezed through the WPIAL playoffs outscoring, Freeport, Greensburg Central Catholic and Deer Lakes by a combined 10-1 to set up a WPIAL title game rematch against Springdale. Nikki Doria scored the lone goal of the game against Springdale. It was the 100th career goal for Doria.

Like last season, after South Park got past the first two rounds of the state playoffs. It defeated Penns Valley, 7-0, and Conemaugh Township, 4-0, Springdale awaited again in the PIAA semifinals. And just like last year, the Eagles beat Springdale, 1-0. Cassie Raymond scored a goal off a Maggie Conrad direct kick in the first half for the game winner.

"That is always a hard thing to try and get up for the same team you see over and over again," Thropp said.

"Springdale is a good team and we knew it was going to be a battle ... the girls really wanted to get back to Hershey to try and have another run at it."

Sophomores Raymond and Lauren Yobbi stepped up in the postseason along with Doria and senior forward Julie Lindenfelser.

Doria and Yobbi led the Eagles offense for most of the season -- Doria finished with 30 goals and Yobbi 21. The South Park defense was one of the top units in the WPIAL. With standout goalkeeper Sydney Judkins, the Eagles shutout 17 teams this season. In front of Judkins, Maggie Conrad, Nikki Miller, Marissa Raymond and Melissa Schwartz started on defense.

"After [the state title loss], obviously they were pretty upset," Thropp said. "We were trying to get them to understand that it's not common to be there two years in a row. It is pretty difficult to do it twice in a short period of time. It is pretty special."

With a season that started in late August and lasted until mid-November, practices could start to become monotonous. Thropp said last season as her team continued to play through the state playoffs, practices were professional and businesslike as though the players "were going to work."

"This year you could almost have a video camera there and send the tapes to 'America's Funniest Home Videos,' " Thropp said. "Something bizarre or crazy was going to happen. Everyday, someone was getting hit in the head or someone was getting stuck in the goal net. It made it a lot easier to go to practice every day.

"It has been a good year and it's been a great group of girls."