The moment hit Century junior Kelly Kasper ... eventually.

As the final horn sounded in last night's Class 2A state girls soccer championship at UMBC, her first-year Knights had just made history with a 2-0 win over defending state co-champion Bethesda-Chevy Chase.

But Kasper and several teammates stood motionless.

"[Lindsay] Lamont and I just stood there and stared at each other and it was like, 'What do we do now?' " Kasper said. "The fans are counting down and they said 'zero.' It took us a few seconds, then it was like, 'Oh my God, we just won states.' "

The victory won't soon be forgotten. No. 10 Century (15-1) became only the second team in state history - along with the 1983 Broadneck baseball squad - to win a state title in its first season of varsity competition.

"Being our first year of varsity, it doesn't seem like this should be happening to us," Kasper said. "But it is, and it's awesome."

The game was played evenly for much of the first half, with nether team able to gain control of the ball on the bouncy turf for more than a couple passes.

"We've played a game all season that's so different than the game we had to come out here and play tonight," Century coach Vanessa Ozimek said. "We were trying to send those through balls that we use our speed to [catch up to], and it wasn't working because they were just rolling away from us."

It was that same turf, however, that played a role as the Knights took a 1-0 lead.

The play began when fullback Mandy Psenicska took a direct kick from about 25 yards. As goalie Mary Creighton stepped up to play the ball, it took a high bounce over her head and Lauren Schwarzmann tapped it into the empty net with 9:04 to play in the first half.

"I hit it in with my knee," Schwarzmann said. "[The goalie] came out a little far."

It was the first goal allowed by Bethesda-Chevy Chase (9-1), the Washington area's No. 3 team, in 10 games this season.

Century then made it 2-0 with 4:12 left in the game when, after a flurry in front of the net, the ball squirted out to Kasper, who fired a hard, left-footed shot into the back of the net from about 18 yards.

"I was wide-open, and I saw the top right-hand corner open," Kasper said. "Then it was like, 'We've got this.' It took so much pressure off."

Bethesda-Chevy Chase coach Rob Kurtz, whose team needed a shootout to top Eastern Tech in the semifinals Tuesday night, said the Barons "just never really picked up that steam" on offense.

"We just didn't have any good combination play," he said. "We were about one pass away. But the better team won tonight. They just outplayed us. They got their chances. They played the turf well."

This was expected to be a season of growth for Century, which had hoped to build off its 11-0-2 JV season of a year ago. Instead, the Knights pulled the ultimate surprise.

"This is amazing," Schwarzmann said. "Our team has come so far."

Said Ozimek: "I'm very overwhelmed with this whole season. It doesn't get any better than this."