Quinn Pankiewicz remembers playing for a state championship as a freshman girls soccer player at Marian.

“It was surreal,” Pankiewicz, now a senior, explains. “I wasn’t even nervous. I played a lot towards the end of year and I was excited to go out there and play. I didn’t realize how big playing for state was to people. I was just a freshman and excited to be there. Any game was fun.”

3 years later, Pankiewicz understands the magnitude. Saturday will mark the final game of her high school career and it will be for a state championship when Marian (16-3-2) faces Lawrenceburg (20-1) at Carroll Stadium on the campus of IU Indy.

After falling in SemiState the last two years, this will mark Marian’s first trip back to the state finals since they lost in double overtime when the now seniors were freshmen. Pankiewicz isn’t the only senior who saw a lot of playing time that season. Midfielder JoJo Murphy and forward Daisy Moody were starters as freshmen.

“It sets us on fire,” Murphy says of how much the loss in the state finals their freshman year motivates the seniors heading into their last game. “We’ve been so close. It gives us so much motivation because this is our last year. We want to win it and do it for our team.”

The Knights advanced to the championship game after a thrilling penalty kick victory over Hanover Central on the home field of Marian’s arch rival Saint Joseph. Marian has outscored its opponents 20-to-2 so far this postseason giving up a goal to Saint Joe in a 2-1 Knights victory in the sectional championship and a regulation goal to Hanover Central in the shootout victory in SemiState.

Lawrenceburg defeated Brebeuf 1-0 to advance to the State Final.

Marian’s only girls soccer state championship victory came in 2012.

The 2A girls soccer State final is set for a 1:30pm start Saturday in Indianapolis.