“It was a great win,” said Spellman coach Mike Perry. “I thought the defense did a real nice job the rest of the way.”

Canton opened the scoring right away as freshman sensation Lauren Berman rifled a beautiful left footer home for a quick 1-0 lead.

The momentum was fleeting. The Cardinals answered right back moments later when Chelsea Barbetto’s corner kick to the far post found teammate Lauren Ward, who tapped home the equalizer.

The remainder of the first half, and much of the game, was a fierce defensive battle.

“We just couldn’t find the net and we didn’t really create enough opportunities,” said Canton coach Anthony Cosky.

Six minutes into the second half the Cardinals scored from the corner again. Barbetto found teammate Nicole McDonough streaking toward the net and she slipped a shot through a crowd and into the net for the game winner.

“Nicole made a nice hard run to the ball and got it by,” said Perry.

Spellman kept the pressure on, winning nearly every free ball and not allowing Berman or the rest of the Canton offense any more opportunities.

“We matched up with them and knew when they had the ball we had to have somebody on them,” said Perry. “I thought we got to more balls and cleared pressure out when we had too.”

The Cardinals advance to the EMass title game.