Jacksonville is returning to the girls’ soccer state championship game.

Junior Caroline Doyle scored the winning goal with 22 minutes, 43 seconds left as the second-seeded Cardinals rallied for a 2-1 win at top-seeded J.H. Rose on Tuesday night in the NCHSAA 6-A East Regional final.

“I love this for the seniors and the rest of the girls,” Jacksonville coach Amanda Pelch said. “We will enjoy the bus ride home.”

The result sent the Cardinals (17-3-2) to the state title match for the second time in three years, where they will take on Charlotte Catholic (23-0-1) on Friday at 4:30 p.m., at Durham County Memorial Stadium.

Top-seeded Charlotte Cathlolic defeated second-seeded Mount Tabor 5-0 on Tuesday in the West Regional final.

“It’s nice to be going back to the state championship game,” said Pelch, who led the Cardinals to the state crown in 2024. “It’s huge for us, especially our upperclassmen who have been here already, but now get to set their own legacy. Friday will be a battle, but hopefully we will take this momentum into the game.”

This marks the Cardinals’ third state final trip after they won in their eighth regional final. It was also the third meeting with J.H. Rose (20-3).

The Cardinals topped the Rampants 2-1 at home on March 26, but J.H. Rose won 3-1 on April 21, resulting in both teams sharing the Big Carolina 6-A/7-A Conference title.

In the third match, it was Doyle who provided the deciding goal.

“This means everything,” Doyle said. “It took a lot at the beginning of the season, but now we are rolling.”

The Rampants took a 1-0 lead just nine minutes into the second half, but the Cardinals responded nearly 20 seconds later on a goal by senior Ryder Perry, who was assisted by senior Riley Morrow.

“That was huge,” Pelch said. “J.H. Rose brought a crowd, and it was a great environment. If we had let them roll with a 1-0 lead, it would have been difficult, but we came up huge. We knew we had to make something happen.”

“I think that first goal gave us momentum,” Doyle said. “We were excited when Ryder scored, but we knew we needed to score again. We worked together to get down the field, and it was there.”

And now the Cardinals prepare for the state final.

“After we got scored on, we didn’t give up,” junior Madison Haigler said. “This shows that we can do anything we put our minds on and that we can overcome obstacles.”

Chris Miller can be contacted via email at cmiller@jdnews.com. Follow him on X @jdnsports.