MONTAGUE – In the state tournament, the winner advances, the loser packs it in for the season, and the sports calendar moves on.

But a sudden ending to a successful season can be painful for the team that comes up short, particularly when the outcome is very close.

That was the case on Friday night for the Orchard View girls soccer team, which dropped a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to Newaygo in the Division 2 district championship game at Montague High School.

“I do not want to say goodbye to these girls,” said a downcast OV Coach Burt Wachter. “They’re a great bunch of girls, and they’re smart in the classroom. They’ve bonded so well this year, and their chemistry helped us have a great season. It was a joy to coach these girls.”

The Cardinals had high hopes of winning a district title, and one reason for their optimism was their potent offense.

With scorers like freshman Nazalia Mendiola (22 goals this season), Kylee Carmean and Aleya Jones, putting points on the scoreboard had not been a big problem for OV.

But up against Newaygo’s tough defense, the Cardinals couldn’t get that offense untracked.

“We just did not execute our plan very well today,” Wachter said. “Our goal all season was to win the district championship, and we knew we had the pieces of the puzzle to do it. We just couldn’t make it happen.”

It is pretty unusual for the Cardinals to be kept off the scoreboard. With only a handful of scoreless games and several with four goals or more, the OV girls came into the title game with a degree of confidence.

They might have been too confident, according to Wachter.

“We had some shots from too far out, where we should have dribbled and shot once we were closer,” Wachter said. “We needed to know what we’re capable of doing. If you’re not a 40-yard shooter, you probably shouldn’t shoot from 40 yards.”

The two teams fought back and forth, with tough defensive play on both sides keeping the ball away from the net. The game remained scoreless through almost the entire first half until Newaygo’s Jaxi Long sent a pass to Grace Painter, who snuck the ball past Orchard View keeper Elizabeth Estelle with 3:15 left in the half.

That turned out to be enough to secure the title for the Lions.

The Cardinals end their season with a 12-7 record and a third-place finish in the Lakes 8 Conference. Newaygo is now 16-3-1 and will face Elk Rapids in the regional semifinals on Tuesday.

The Lions knew it would take a lot to come out on top against Orchard View, and their preparation paid off, according to their coach.

“We knew it was going to be really physical coming in, so we were prepared,” said Newaygo coach Matt Painter. “We knew what we had to do, and that if we did it and executed well, we’d be in a good spot.”

Despite coming up with a loss, Orchard View’s defense put up quite a fight.

“Our defense has been great all year,” Watcher said. “Besides our first game, we’ve held other teams to pretty low-scoring games as well. Shout out to our girls on defense because they’ve really done a great job this season. They really listened to the coaches, and they’ve grown a lot.”

Estelle was great in goal for OV on Friday, making several big saves to keep the Cardinals in the game.

“She has really grown into this position,” Watcher said. “She never had any formal training. At the high school level, you’d assume that there’d be some formal training by now, and she hasn’t had it. Elizabeth has really shown up, especially this year.”