To Peters Township's Rachel Sunday, playing goalie in a scoreless WPIAL Class AA field hockey championship game that remained tied throughout regulation and went to sudden-death overtime wasn't as tense as she thought it would be.

And that's a compliment to her teammates.

"It's nerve-racking but I look at my defense and my offense and how hard they work," a joyous Sunday said amidst the revelry on the field at Fox Chapel not long after the Indians beat the Foxes, 1-0, in overtime on Monday night. "I mean, this game was theirs. I just get to stand back there and watch them do pretty things."

Jules Femiani scored 14 minutes into overtime to give Peters Township its first WPIAL field hockey championship. The Indians were to play a PIAA tournament play-in game last night.

Peters Township won the Section 2 title with a 10-0 record but the WPIAL crown was what the Indians were really after. They beat Norwin in the semifinals, 3-1, to set up the showdown with Fox Chapel.

"Tonight is definitely everything we've been looking forward to and it was our No. 1 goal for the season," said Sunday, a senior. "Everyone came together. This is a great team, no problems, no nothing. We all worked together and really love each other so it was really awesome to be able to do it with this team."

Fitting that the winning goal came off a sequence involving seniors Kayla Howard, Julianna Mackrinos and Femiani. Those three were the Indians' top offensive threats throughout the course of the season.

With time winding down in overtime, the three broke into the Foxes' zone with only one defender in front of them. Howard fed Mackrinos, who wound up for a shot while Femiani was near the net. Femiani redirected it in past Fox Chapel goalie Madison Wagner.

"They were all involved," coach Kristin Slemmer said. "It was a team effort."

The Indians' offense had the majority of the scoring chances throughout the game but Sunday still was there when called upon. A senior in only her second year on the team, Sunday was an unquestioned team leader.

"She's a great commander in the back of the field," Slemmer said. "She communicated with everybody, kept everyone's heads together."

Leadership was only one of the intangibles the Indians used on their route to the title. A senior-dominated team (12 of the 17 players listed on the roster distributed at the championship game were seniors), Peters Township played like a team that didn't want its season to end without a championship.

"They kept pushing through when they wanted to quit," Slemmer said. "They just kept pushing. I know there were times when they are dog tired and they just kept going. That's all it takes."

Besides Sunday, Femiani, Mackrinos and Howard, other seniors on the roster include forwards Alison Crawford and Sarah Quinn, forward/midfielders Leeza Tselepis and Carly Ellis, backs Danielle Dolcich, Brianna Kilberg, Natalie Toscano and Theresa Peranteau. Their high school careers end with a championship.

Not long after the title game ended Monday and the players, coaches, parents, fans and others associated with the program were still celebrating on the field, Slemmer was asked what the best part of the season was for the Indians.

"The best part? I still can't breathe after this game," she said with a laugh. "I still think seeing them accomplish a goal that they've been working toward since they were freshmen and kind of put it in the history books as the first team to win WPIALs for Peters."

"It means everything," Sunday said. "We're a new program and everyone just worked as hard as they could. My defense is incredible and our offense just held the ball the whole time.

"It was just awesome. Everyone worked together as a team and there was a lot of heart and hard work put on the field tonight."

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.