Ohio High School Athletic Association director of compliance Kristin Ronai was tasked with handing out the Division I boys soccer runner-up trophy after Sunday night’s state final at Historic Crew Stadium.

In her speech, Ronai made a point of mentioning that St. Charles asked for and was granted permission to compete in Division I this season after originally being assigned to Division II as part of the OHSAA’s tournament expansion.

The Cardinals got what they hoped for, reaching their first championship game since 2016, even if the end was agonizing.

With 1 second left in the second overtime, Cleveland St. Ignatius’ Bryce Ince-Lovelace worked around a St. Charles defender, snuck to the right of Cardinals goalie Aiden Rice and fired a shot into the upper corner of the net to give the Wildcats a 1-0 victory and their sixth consecutive title.

The Cardinals (13-4-4), who also lost to St. Ignatius 4-2 on Sept. 7, were outshot 28-12 but relied on strong defensive play and eight saves from Rice to come within an eyelash of taking the game to penalty kicks.

St. Charles was denied its first championship since 1985 and third all-time.

“We started shifting back more; we didn’t lose marks in the back and made sure we were accountable for each other and staying on our marks,” Cardinals senior defender Grant Brokaw said. “That helped a lot. They didn’t have many crosses in the box that they won. We were scrappy, won the second ball and got the clears.

“Accountability and discipline are what we’ve been harping on all season. We exemplified it here.”

St. Charles did not put a shot on goal until the 26:40 mark of the second half but had several quality chances thereafter.

“Nothing we did as coaches even comes close to the amount of effort these guys put into this,” coach Chris Vonau said. “My heart is just sunken into my stomach. I’m never speechless, but I am somewhat dumbfounded at the result. Ignatius obviously is talented, but it’s gut-wrenching to work this hard and see that happen with 1 second left.”

Ince-Lovelace, a junior forward who also scored the game-tying goal in last year’s state final win over Cincinnati Moeller, said instinct took over.

“I wasn’t really thinking, I was so exhausted,” Ince-Lovelace said. “I just smashed it. I just ran straight to the corner to celebrate with everybody else.”

St. Ignatius (15-4-2) won its 14th championship overall.

“There is something about sports that something can change in a second, from nothing to a state championship,” St. Ignatius coach Mike McLaughlin said. “With 20 seconds to go, they were down at our goal and we were hoping we could survive to penalty kicks.”

Wildcats goalie John Speelman finished with three saves.

Three state finals this weekend were decided in penalty kicks, including the New Albany boys win earlier Sunday in Division II and the Watterson girls victory Saturday in Division II.

“We didn’t want an easy road,” Rice said. “We wanted to play the best teams we could and we want to win the hardest games we can. That’s what we did all year.”