CARY - Northwood's boys soccer team experienced something Saturday night at the WakeMed Soccer Park that it had not dealt with for 14 straight games.

A loss.

Shelby High School edged Northwood 2-1 in the NCHSAA 2-A championship match. The win marked the first state title in soccer for the Golden Lions (23-3-1), who have captured multiple state championships in football and also won the 2-A basketball title this past season.

Ironically, that also came against Northwood.

"Shelby is a very good team, " said Northwood head coach Russ Frazier, who led the Chargers to their first appearance in the state finals. "We were very happy to be here, but one of the toughest things was getting back home around 3:30 in the morning [Saturday] and then having to turn around and play for the state [title]."

Playing just up the coast from Chapel Hill's game Friday night in Holly Ridge, soggy conditions in Swansboro forced the Chargers (19-3-2) to travel to coastal Croatan High School to play Swansboro for the 2-A eastern final. Northwood prevailed 1-0 when Joey Suprick scored two minutes into the second half with an assist from senior captain Joe Graybeal.

It was a historic victory for the Chargers, who had lost to Cardinal Gibbons the past two years in the eastern semifinals.

The Chargers fell behind Shelby almost immediately in the match on Saturday. Kevin Petty scored about four minutes into the game when the ball ricocheted off a Northwood player and into the goal.

Northwood had to fend off the Golden Lions attacks the rest of the first half and trailed 1-0 at intermission. Both teams battled in the second half, but with 13:54 left remaining MVP Jerry Zeller scored to give Shelby the Golden Lions a two-goal advantage.

Seemingly re-invigorated, the Chargers began to press aggressively. Northwood's Austin Brice and Sam Lucier nearly scored one minute after Zeller, and Northwood finally found the net when Sam Lucier scored off of a long pass from Joe Graybeal with 7:45 left in the contest.

But Northwood managed just one more chance on-goal after that, and Shelby was able to kill the final minutes.

Frazier, in his fourth year, has worked with seniors Lucier, Graybeal, Brice, Ramiro Martinez, Peter Theilgard, Jovanni Catalan and goalkeeper Brandon Green since they were freshmen.

"These kids played the entire game tonight and they played the entire game last night, " Frazier said. "They are outstanding student athletes, and they represent Northwood with class. I'm proud to be their coach."

Graybeal also spoke for his teammates. "We all care about each other, and that really accounts for why we got this far."

SHELBY 2, NORTHWOOD 1

Class 2-A Championship

Saturday, Nov. 21, at WakeMed Soccer Park

NWD	1	0	--	1
SHL	1	1	--	2

SHL--4' Kevin Petty.

NWD--74' Sam Lucier.

SHL---77' Jerry Zeller.