All week long, Salpointe Catholic first-year coach Kelly Pierce stressed about Saturday's 4A state title game against Flagstaff. She had nervous butterflies and more.

"Not sleeping, anxiety, like on edge. All week,and then this morning I woke up and just had a really good feeling,” Pierce said, “I was relaxed on the bus, and the girls were relaxed and happy and their having fun and I thought, it’s going to be a good day today.”

It was a championship day.

Salpointe Catholic  successfully captured back-to-back 4A state-titles with a 3-0 victory.

The title capped off a dominant (11-0-1) regular season run for Salpointe.

Pierce emphasized confidence and relaxed play as key factors for her team to be successful and the girls responded.

“I knew from the start we had all the hope and faith from just everyone and had a feeling, no nerves or anything, that we were just going to take it again,” senior captain Paloma Teran said.

An early goal in the fifth minute by Salpointe’s Kalista Kakou put top-seeded Flagstaff behind from the start and left it reeling the rest of the match.Salpointe's offensive onslaught was underway.

Leading to perhaps the most impressive performance on the pitch, the junior forward  netted two goals, including the penalty kick that dashed Flagstaff’s hopes in the 74th minute.

“I think it’s amazing, and I’m so happy that we’re going to have two state rings. I’m just beyond excited and just so happy to be able to wear another ring,” Kakou said.

Pay-dirt was once again found by Salpointe off a remarkable goal by senior Isabella Almazan. Almazan found the back of the net in the 53rd minute off a rebound to beat Flagstaff’s keeper Lyza Bosselmann and give her club a 2-0 advantage.

Then came the  critical penalty in the box that gave the hot foot ofKakou another opportunity to score on a penalty kick.

This title marks Salpointe Catholic’s sixth and third in the last four seasons. For the second season in a row, Flagstaff fell just short of another title at the hands, or feet rather, of Salpointe.