Ripon Christian’s remarkable streak of postseason shutouts finally ended Saturday in the City by the Bay.

Top-seeded Lowell of San Francisco came into the NorCal Division V final averaging five goals in its previous four playoff matches but needed just one to knock off the No. 2 Knights for their second California Interscholastic Federation regional title.

Clodaugh McIntyre’s late first-half tally was the difference in the 1-0 victory for the Cardinals (18-2), who completely dominated the opening 40 minutes.

Lowell fired 19 shots against none for Ripon Christian (17-9-1) in the first half. The shot disparity ended at 25-2 in the Cardinals’ favor, and 9-0 on frame. RC goalie Morgan Schenk secured eight saves.

The Knights applied more pressure on the ball in the second half and was able to penetrate into the offensive third, creating opportunities on set pieces including three corner kicks.

Their first shot of the game came nine minutes into the second half, but Alanna Blanco’s difficult half-volley attempt was sent wide. Tatum Sonke had RC’s second shot in the 68th minute after controlling a long free kick from Schenk. The shot was deflected off a defender for a corner kick.

“We wanted to hold them as long as we could in the first half and see if we can get a counterattack,” Ripon Christian coach David Morris said. “We knew we couldn’t play them straight up, so we tried to defend them as hard as we could, and then throw everything we can at them in the second half.

“I’m super proud of the girls and their intensity; they never quit in the second half. We changed to a more attacking formation and started connecting passes, we just couldn’t get enough connections up front. It makes me wonder if I should have tried that earlier in the game.”

Although Lowell held much of the possession in the first half, the bulk of its opportunities were half chances from distance.

The deciding sequence was a masterpiece from start to finish.

Zoe Ivatt carried advanced the ball from the left touch line and dished it ahead to Jude Foster-McDerby, who cut across the 18-yard line and immediately found McIntyre unmarked on the right wing. Lowell’s skilled attacking midfielder dribbled into the box and cut it back onto her left foot, striking it near post past the diving Schenk.

McIntyre nearly doubled the lead four minutes later when a through ball set her up with a 1-on-1 against Schenk, who timed her jump off the goal line perfectly to block the uncontested shot.

“We hate that to be the one goal, but to giving up one goal in 480 seconds of postseason soccer is a testimony to the skill and grit of our players in the back, as well as Morgan’s ability,” Morris said. “That’s obviously an incredibly skilled team that is comfortable in possession, and they held us out of their half (of the field). They’re strong across the field at every position, and we were able to hold them to one goal after they were blowing people out. We felt like we came to play and did the best we could.”

Lowell, a school with about 2,600 students, won its first NorCal title — also in Division V — in 2019, downing Ripon High in the semifinals.

Although Ripon Christian’s season ends in defeat, the team met every goal it established at the start. The Knights rejoined the tradition-rich Trans-Valley League as a full-time member and proved to be up to the task against more seasoned opponents. After a fourth-place finish, they successfully defending their Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship and made their first-ever NorCal final-round appearance.

“We’re thrilled with the season we had,” Morris said. “One of our team concepts is progress; we want to keep developing as people and players, and I really feel like all three of our goals were accomplished. We had three team goals at the beginning: finish top four in the TVL, to back to the playoffs and defend our section title and get back to NorCal and get past the first down.

“We actually surpassed our third goal. It says a lot about the program at RC, a little school with about 230 kids and one player with about six months of club experience. Everyone else is a recreational player who is willing to work their butt off and put in the time and energy for the program. What they’re able to accomplish as multiple-sport athletes is amazing and speaks to their effort and ability.”