SOUTH BEND — Karen Liddell continued to step up as the St. Joseph's girls soccer team stayed one step ahead of Culver Girls Academy to take another step forward in the state tournament Wednesday night.
Ryan Durham also stepped in at the right time to smartly get her first-ever yellow card in a key defensive play for the Indians.

Senior Liddell staked her team to a first-half lead and sophomore Durham's heads-up play stopped a CGA breakaway attempt en route to a 2-1 victory in the South Bend Regional.

Fab freshman Catherine Raster also tallied a second-half goal off a long pass from senior standout Tayler Turner and the Indians defense dominated the contest at Jackson Field.

No. 4 St. Joe (19-1-1) advances to play Kankakee Valley (17-2-1) in the Crown Point Semistate Saturday at 11 a.m. (South Bend time).

No. 17 CGA, which defeated St. Joe 2-0 in the 2008 regional en route to a State Finals appearance, got a gorgeous goal on a direct kick from Dineo Mmutla with 8:35 to play.

The Indians claim their seventh regional title and first since 2003 under veteran coach Johan Kuitse.

"I'm happy for this team,'' said Kuitse. "This is my 23rd year and a group like this energizes me. We have a great group of seniors and their leadership has been fantastic.

"It's nice to end their season since they ended ours last year, but this was about wanting to play again Saturday. We played better than Saturday (in the sectional final).

"Karen has really stepped it up the last third or half of the season. She's been tremendous for us. Our defense played very well tonight and was a big key. Ali (Connelly), Ryan (Durham), Courtney (Ponsler), Ellen (Bachmannhuff) and Lindsey (Kuitse) all did a great job back there. CGA is a very dangerous team.''

Liddell, who scored with 1:22 to play in the contest to forge a 1-1 tie with CGA on Oct. 7, put her team up 1-0 with 5:56 left in the opening half off a beautiful pass by Courtney Ponsler over a couple of CGA defenders.

"This is unbelievable,'' Liddell said. "We're one step closer to State. This is our year and tonight it was our turn to beat them. Courtney made an amazing cross to me and I turned it and found an open shot. It was amazing to score that goal.''

Durham put the brakes on a potential CGA tying score just 53 seconds after Liddell made it 1-0. Durham earned her yellow card with a good foul on Kylee Shipley to stop a breakaway run for a shot.

"I saw her in front of me and so many things went through my mind,'' recounted Durham of her key play. "At the last second, I decided I should foul her. All my teammates thanked me. It's my first yellow, but I think it was a good one.''

"St. Joe proved to be the best team on the field tonight,'' said first-year CGA coach Nathaniel King. "They are a good team and my hat's off to them. They had a gameplan and it worked. They were a step ahead of us and we never got in rhythm and going in our game.''

ST. JOSEPH'S 2, CULVER GIRLS ACADEMY 1

At South Bend

FIRST HALF

SJ — Karen Liddell (Courtney Ponsler), 5:56.

SECOND HALF

SJ — Catherine Raster (Tayler Turner), 28:13.

CGA — Dineo Mmutla (unassisted), 8:35.

Shots: St. Joe 6, CGA 3.; Saves (goalkeeper): St. Joe 2 (Melissa Kuhar), CGA 2 (Jasmine Solola); Corners: St. Joe 0, CGA 0.

Records: St. Joe 19-1-1, CGA 14-4-2.