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The Ironwood Ridge girls soccer team needed almost 66 minutes to create something to show for its strong midfield play against host Tucson.

A tap-in goal after a corner kick turned out to be all the sixth-seeded Nighthawks needed Monday to win 1-0 and advance to the final round of the Tucson Champions Cup.

Ironwood Ridge, which lost in the finals of the tournament last year, played its quarterfinal game — a 2-1 victory over Mountain View — earlier Monday, then beat the Badgers 1-0.

Ironwood Ridge also is a much younger team than last year, as seven freshmen play a lot of minutes, Nighthawks coach Sean Watkins said.

"This is a great group of kids," Watkins said. "This (victory) is something to grow on."

In the semifinal game, the Nighthawks used a team effort to come out on top. Watkins singled out as the top performers goalkeeper Brooke Seavitt, who had three saves and didn't drop a ball; Christina Farrell, who had the assist on the only goal; and Kaitlyn Lopez, who just missed a goal by hitting the top upright of the goal post.

The goal was scored by Camie Barbera after a mistake by Tucson set up Ironwood Ridge with a corner kick from the right side. Katie Cocchi threw the ball in, Lopez deflected it, and Barbera finished it off by punching it in on a wide-open right side of the net.

Until the goal, most of the play took place around midfield. After the goal, Ironwood Ridge started to take control and dominate possession.

"We were less frazzled after we scored the goal," Barbera said. "We were exhausted, but that goal really calmed us down."

Barbera, Seavitt, and Lopez all agreed that they were not going to let the victory elude them. They wanted to get to the championship.

"I have friends on the other team," Seavitt said. "I just wasn't going to allow a goal today."

Tucson was the No. 2 seed and had a bye into the semifinal round. The tournament host held tough throughout much of the game but couldn't overcome a few missed opportunities on good shot attempts.

At noon today, Ironwood Ridge will play No. 5 Yuma Cibola for the championship. Cibola beat No. 1 Murrieta Valley (Calif.) 2-1 in the other semifinal to earn a title-game berth.