The Xavier girls soccer earned another trip to the state tournament on Monday, but the Prairie Hawks made them sweat it out.

The top-ranked Saints prevailed, 1-0, in the Class 2A regional finals in sweltering heat at Xavier and will bid for their sixth state title in a row this week in Muscatine.

Xavier (16-2) will face Independence/East Buchanan (15-2) in the opening round of the Class 2A state tournament on Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Muscatine soccer complex.

The Saints defeated the Prairie Hawks, 6-2, during the regular season, but Prairie goalkeeper Emily Musil played a superb game Monday and gave her team a chance to pull an upset.

"It was the best game she's ever played," Prairie Coach Cara Solness remarked.

Musil made a series of diving, sliding, fingertip grabs to keep the Saints off the scoreboard at Heco Field in the first half, and she nearly pitched a shutout for the entire game except for one bruising play early in the second half.

Musil tried to make an aggresive play for a loose ball in front of her goal, but she collided with a Xavier player and Annie Dale was able to score into an empty net with 31 minutes, 34 seconds to play. Sammi Shepard got credit for the assist.

"I got hit in the head," Musil said. "I think it was her shinpad. I blacked out for a few seconds."

When Musil regained her senses, the Saints had their 1-0 lead.

Musil said she got hit three times in the face or head during the match. She was looking forward to going home and relaxing, knowing her team gave a good effort.

Xavier dominated the match and had numerous chances to score, but Musil kept turning the Saints away. Prairie mounted an attack late in the game and had two good chances, but one shot flew over the goal and the other slid past the goal mouth.

The Saints have won five straight state titles and six overall, but all those were in Class 1A (the smallest class by enrollment). The IGHSAU added another class for girls soccer this year and now the Saints are in Class 2A (the middle class).

Xavier Coach Doug Graham anticipates stiffer competition at the state tournament this year against bigger schools.