HERSHEY — Neither wind nor rain nor sleet could stop the Canon-McMillan girls soccer team Saturday.

Nor, most crucially, could Central Bucks South.

Sophomore Addie Roman scored with 4 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in a golden-goal overtime period to give Canon-McMillan a 1-0 victory over Central Bucks South in the PIAA Class AAAA championship at blustery Hersheypark Stadium. It marks the Lady Macs' first state title.

“It's pretty amazing. There's no other way to describe it,” Roman said. “I love the fact that we were able to bring this home. I kept telling the girls on the field, it's all mentality and who wants it more. At times it was really hard to fight through (the weather), but I just tried to worry about the play.”

Jaiden Williams' pop pass in overtime found Roman at the far post, and she converted the cross to set off the celebration.

“I knew right away she was going to curve the ball in. She has a really good cross like that,” Roman said. “It was just a perfect ball, and so I just made my run forward and let it bounce. The defender had no idea I was there, and I just volleyed it right in.”

Canon-McMillan (22-1-1), which lost to Central Bucks West in the PIAA Class AAA final in 2014, overcame a loss to Norwin in the WPIAL championship game to win four straight in the state playoffs, including a 3-1 victory over Norwin in the quarterfinals.

On Saturday, the Lady Macs battled high winds and rain, which turned to sleet by the end of the game. They were playing into the wind in the second half and overtime.

“That's their heart,” Canon-McMillan coach David Derrico said. “That's the way they've played all season. That's this team. That's their character. They never quit.

“I told them, look, we've got to get a goal and get the (heck) out of here because the weather is getting worse and worse, and they just never quit. They haven't done it all season, so I didn't expect them to tonight.”

The wind took a pair of CB South's corner kicks out of bounds in the second half and knocked down some of Canon-McMillan's goal kicks and clearing attempts in midair.

“I can't even express how bad the conditions were for both teams,” Derrico said. “But especially defending this end (in the second half and overtime) and you had that 30 mph wind going this direction.”

Derrico directed Canon-McMillan to keep the ball on the ground to combat the wind, but the Lady Macs were tested by CB South (19-6-1), a school that opened in 2005. The Titans, who finished fourth in District 1, kept much of the action in Canon-McMillan's end in the second half, using the wind to their advantage.

But the defenses and goalkeepers did their part to keep it scoreless, too, with CB South's Sophia Boggs robbing Canon-McMillan star forward Sabrina Bryan late in the second half and Lady Macs keeper Megan Virgin following with a diving stop on Brooke Steigerwalt.

“She had a little hiccup in the beginning of the season, but she's gotten better and better as we've gone along,” Derrico said. “She kept us in that game.”

And then Roman won it.

“No matter what we go through, we always come back,” Roman said. “We knew today waking up that this was our game, so we wanted to prove to everyone that it was.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

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