Cheverus co-op players celebrate after defeating Biddeford 3-0 in the South final. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)

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PORTLAND — Ellie Skolnekovich was keeping the Cheverus co-op girls hockey team’s championship repeat hopes alive with save after save.

Then her teammates stepped up to punch the ticket.

Logan Curry, Jaylee Radford and Joey Pompeo scored to back Skolnekovich’s excellent play in net, and top-seeded Cheverus topped No. 2 Biddeford/Kennebunk/Thornton Academy/Wells/Sanford, 3-0, to win its fourth straight South regional title.

The Stags (15-3-2) will look to make it four consecutive state championships Saturday against North champion Yarmouth/Freeport, which beat the top-ranked Edward Little co-op, 3-1.

“Every day, we continued to work hard. We continued to practice hard, we didn’t focus on what other teams were doing, we didn’t focus on the game that was ahead of us, we just focused on us,” Skolnekovich said. “Throughout that entire game, I just kept saying to our girls, ‘One play at a time.’ Because that’s all that matters.”

After dropping 5-1 and 3-0 decisions to the Stags in the regular season, the Tigers (15-6-0) peppered Skolnekovich as they looked to break through Wednesday. Each time she was challenged, Skolnekovich came up big.

With the game still scoreless late in the first period, she made a pad save on McKenna Buchanan’s tip of Evelyne Roper’s shot from near the blue line. She stopped Sophia Auger on a rebound try in the second, then made a save on Ashley Davis’ one-timer when Auger found her after a Cheverus defender fell behind the net later in the period. Early in the third, Skolnekovich stopped Buchanan’s bid from close range.

“We had some really point-blank shots, some great opportunities throughout the game that could have swung it one way or another,” Tigers coach Josh Williams said. “You’ve got to give credit to Ellie. She played phenomenal.”

Skolnekovich said her teammates had a big hand in her performance.

“We had a great week of practice. I can’t say it enough, the girls pepper me at practice,” she said. “Coming in, I was just confident I had great defense in front of me, I had great forwards.”

Logan Curry of the Cheverus co-op slides the puck past Biddeford co-op goalie Mariah Villandry during the South final. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)

Eventually, those teammates gave her the goals she needed. Curry struck first with a hustle play, pushing the puck up ice, following after it, forcing a turnover near the blue line and then going in alone and scoring on a backhand for a 1-0 lead with 1:52 left in the first period.

“It was just a great goal to get,” she said. “As you go in, you’re like, ‘I’ve got to score, I’ve got to score,’ but you have to take your time. Don’t go through the motions. You have to know what you’re going to do.”

Stags coach Scott Rousseau said Curry had been pressing during a scoreless stretch, but had also been playing good two-way hockey.

“I’m so happy she scored, because she was so good defensively against (Corinne) Ramunno and Auger,” he said. “(Those are) two seniors who are going to play college hockey next year. Her back pressure was constant.”

In the third period, Cheverus found breathing room. Abigail Titus led a 2-on-1 with Radford and fed the sophomore with a centering pass for a goal with 13:59 to play. Pompeo made it 3-0, pouncing on the rebound of a Briella Doherty shot with 11:32 remaining.

“We knew we had to come out hard, one final push to put it away, and that’s what we did,” Doherty said. “We still have one more to go. The hard work’s not over.”