Kate Russell couldn't wait any longer. For a goal, or for a state title.

The Silver Creek midfielder had orchestrated a dominating first half against Niwot in the Class 4A girls state championship soccer game Tuesday night at Englewood Stadium, but the game between the Northern League rivals was scoreless at halftime.

So Russell took charge. She created an opportunity by dribbling past a defender with a fake, then drilling a low shot into the far corner of the Niwot net from 20 yards out in the 43rd minute to give the Raptors the only goal they would need. Russell's score gave Silver Creek a 1-0 victory and its first state title in a girls sport.

"It is surreal," Russell said after celebrating with her teammates and a mob of Silver Creek students after the game. "We are celebrating and everybody is screaming and I'm just getting tossed this way and that."

Russell, who will take her fancy footwork to the University of Colorado next season, couldn't be budged off the ball for most of the game. Her fakes and jukes created opportunity after opportunity for the Raptors (18-0-1), who controlled the ball on the Niwot side of the field for almost the entire 80 minutes.

Niwot coach Chad Eisentrager, whose squad lost to Silver Creek 1-0 in the regular season as well, had high praise for Russell and the Raptors.

"There's a good chance that Silver Creek is the best team that 4A has ever seen," he said. "We played bad defense for a couple of minutes and the best player in the state of Colorado beat us."

Niwot only managed one shot on goal, but Eisentrager said his team was not playing strictly to settle back on defense.

"I don't think we packed in the defense at all," he said. "We obviously were going to be playing a lot more defense against Silver Creek than we'd like. The strategy was not to let Kate Russell beat us. But her shot . . . nobody is going to stop that."

Niwot (12-3-4) made things interesting in the final minutes with a corner kick opportunity. But Cougars midfielder Lauren Shaner headed the chance over the Silver Creek net with two minutes to play.

Russell, the Rocky's 4A championship game MVP, said her team's lost opportunities in the first half, when it had three solid chances to score, only reinforced the Raptors' confidence.

"It was frustrating in beginning because we kept having those chances, but at the same time, it kind of settled us in because we were getting those opportunities, and we knew one would fall sooner or later," she said.

Niwot0 0 - 0

Silver Creek0 1 - 1

Goal - Kate Russell (unassisted) 43:47.

Shots on goal - N, 0-1 1; SC, 3-5 8. Saves - N (Alexis Zumwalt) 3-4 7; SC (Lauren Wolfinger) 0-1 1. Corner kicks - N, 0-2 2; SC, 3-0 3. Yellow card - N, Lauren Shaner.