The Ellis School field hockey coach Genny Kozusko tried to maintain proper perspective in the moments after her team was defeated, 2-1, by Shady Side Academy in overtime of the WPIAL Class AA field hockey championship game Monday night at Fox Chapel.

"Win or lose, I want to come back and play again," Kozusko said with a smile. "I want to come back and do this all over again. This is fun. It's a lot of fun."

Though several Tigers were welling up in tears on the James Burk Memorial Stadium turf as Shady Side Academy players received their gold medals, Kozusko asserted they have nothing to be ashamed of.

After all, Ellis won the WPIAL Class AA regular-season title with a 13-1 record. In the past, that would have meant the Tigers were anointed WPIAL champions and they'd be ready to head into the PIAA tournament.

But over the past three years, the WPIAL has staged a four-team championship tournament among its eight Class AA member schools. Ellis split its two regular-season meetings with Shady Side Academy, which it has played in the championship game during each of the past three seasons.

"It was a good season," Kozusko said. "It's just that you get so close ...

"The girls did their best, but the playoffs are like this. It's almost anybody's game. You never know how it's going to end up."

Kozusko said the season's highlight was a 6-1 win against Winchester Thurston Oct. 21 that established the proper attitude for the stretch run and the postseason. Winchester Thurston placed third in the WPIAL and the Tigers showed some fire in beating them.

"The kids just wouldn't play aggressively [to that point of the season]; they were just mild-mannered," Kozusko said. "But finally they came on strong in the WT game. That's when they really took off and they [adopted] that mindset where, 'We've got to play tough and we've got to play our game and we'll be OK.' And they stuck with that."

Seven seniors played their final game for The Ellis School Monday, including goalkeeper Caroline Kelley and midfielder Maria Kovalchuk, the teams co-captains.

"All the seniors, I'm just so grateful for their loyalty to the program," Kozusko said. "Sometimes kids, when they're juniors or seniors, they quit because they're not real excited about the program. Not these kids; they're just a barrel of fun all the way around, and they stuck with it from junior high on."

Kovalchuk is one of the top players in the area and will play at the Division I level next season. She is debating between Princeton and Michigan and has other opportunities at other schools.

Kovalchuk plays for Team Golden Triangle, a premier travel team in the area that travels as far as California to compete in the USA Field Hockey national festival. Kovalchuk also recently was named to the USA Field Hockey Futures Elite.

"She's an excellent player," Kozusko said. "She does her homework and goes to camps all over the East Coast in order to improve her game. She absolutely loves the game. She just has wonderful interest in the game, and she's got exceptional skills. That makes for quite a player."

Emily Russell, a 5-foot-8 forward, scored in the championship game and also was one of the team's top offensive players.

Junior link Gabi Tomson was an integral part of the Tigers' transition game this season.

Seniors Libby Campanella and Justine Betzler were wings whom Kozusko said have come on strong this season, and senior Maura Lewandowski was one of the team's top defenders.

"She's a bright kid and she really reads the attack well," Kozusko said. "She's been a good defender for me."

Kozusko said that Kelley has a chance to play starting next season at a smaller college program.

Rasha El Jaroudi took up the sport as a freshman and had developed into a reliable defender by her senior season. She did not play in the championship game due to injury.

"I love the seniors; they've been dedicated since middle school and I will miss them," Kozusko said. "We had a great season."

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.