Providence Day girls soccer does it again, beats Latin for state title

In a battle of two top 15 nationally ranked girls soccer teams, Providence Day outlasted Charlotte Latin to win back-to-back NCISAA 4A state championships Saturday.

Providence Day traveled to Charlotte Latin to beat the Hawks 1-0 in overtime for its 11th girls soccer championship. The Chargers — who beat Latin 3-1 in the 2024 final at home — have now won five of the past six state championships

The teams have met eight consecutive times in the state finals, but this time Providence Day’s toughness allowed it to top Charlotte Latin.

During a hot and blazing Saturday afternoon, both teams did not lack physicality as they delivered bumps and pushes that resulted in a scoreless game at the end of regulation, with several players exiting and entering the game because of injuries.

“I think it’s always a physical game against our rivals,” Providence Day forward Lia Zimmer said after the game. “We’ve learned as a team to play physical and get scrappy and dirty and that’s what we did.”

Providence Day (22-2-1) was ranked No. 11 nationally by MaxPreps coming into the game. Charlotte Latin (20-3), which split two regular-season meetings with the Chargers, was No. 9.

“We knew it was going to be a battle. We knew it was going to be war,” Providence Day coach Dan Dudley said. “Special players turn up in special moments and that’s what Lia did for us today.”

At the 3:00 mark in the first overtime period, Zimmer fought through several defenders and ended the scoring drought with a kick to the top right corner of the net for the only goal of the game.

Although outshot 16-5, Providence Day turned up its defensive intensity after Zimmer’s score and finished off a tired Latin team.

“After that goal, we just felt like we needed to hold the game down, play for each other and finish out the game strong.” Zimmer said.