BY JOE JOHNSON

jjohnson@heraldsun.com; 419-6667

CARY -- East Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill battled almost to the end before Sophie Laas-Nesbitt scored with two minutes left in the second sudden-death overtime period to lift the Wildcats to a 1-0 win and their second straight N.C. Field Hockey Association state championship at Cary Academy Field on Saturday.

Laas-Nesbitt got free in front of the Chapel Hill goal and smacked the winning shot into the net after a crossing pass bounced off teammate Helen Newton's stick. For Laas-Nesbitt, it was her second game-winning goal to beat Chapel Hill this season, as she did the same a week ago in their regular-season finale.

"I could feel something was going to happen," said Laas-Nesbitt, who joined the team this season after her family moved to the area from Fairfax, Va. "At the beginning of the season, the team talked so much about what it meant to win the championship. When the ball went in, I knew. I couldn't believe it happened."

The play started with a turnover in the Chapel Hill defensive end when the Tigers were unable to clear the ball cleanly. The ball was struck several times before deflecting off Newton's stick and ending up where Laas-Nesbitt had a open shot.

Up to that point, the teams played through regulation time scoreless, a pair of 10-minute regular overtime periods, one 10-minute sudden-death overtime period and eight minutes of the second.

East Chapel Hill goalkeeper Kaori Sueyoshi said the championship game was intense.

"Normally, I don't see too much action, but there was today," Sueyoshi said. "It was stressful, but it was really, really awesome to win."

East Chapel Hill 1, Chapel Hill 0

Chapel Hill 0 0 0 0 0 0--0

East Chapel Hill 0 0 0 0 0 1--1

Goal--Sophie Laas-Nesbitt. Shots--ECH 16, Chapel Hill 9. Saves--ECH, Kaori Sueyeshi 8; Chapel Hill 11. Corners--ECH 6, Chapel Hill 9.

Records--ECH 19-2, Chapel Hill 17-3.