Waterbury — To come back from a 2-0 deficit, first you need one goal.

And not that the Old Lyme High School girls' soccer team was running out of time Saturday afternoon in the Class S state championship game, but it was this side of halftime and, despite a hail of shots, the Wildcats still hadn't scored.

Leave it to a magical play from freshman Mya Johnson to change all that.

With 23 minutes, 26 seconds to play, Johnson raced to stop a seemingly ordinary ball from going out of bounds on the end of the field nearest the Wildcats' bench, possessing alongside the Notre Dame goal. She sneaked it to Maddie Ouellette up top for a goal and, suddenly, Old Lyme was Old Lyme again.

No. 5 Old Lyme came back to tie No. 18 Notre Dame of Fairfield 2-2 and the score remained that way through two 15-minute overtimes, with the teams finally being declared co-champions by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference.

Old Lyme broke its final huddle with coach Paul Gleason a bit tearful with the tie, having outshot Notre Dame 26-6.

“We're all crying even though we just won,” Old Lyme senior Silja Forstein said, able to appreciate the moment, Old Lyme's second title in school history, through tears. “We just wanted it so badly. … We have a lot of love for each other.

“Even though it wasn't the exact result we wanted, it's still something to be proud of. Even down two goals, you know anything can happen. If you let up mentally, you don't stand a chance.”

Ouellette scored both goals for Old Lyme and was named co-MVP of the game along with Notre Dame's Samantha LaValle, who scored Notre Dame's first goal just 3:18 into the game.

Old Lyme tied it with 15:31 to play in regulation on Ouellette's goal off a lengthy throw-in from Keelin Hurtt.

The overtime sessions were eventful. Notre Dame seized momentum for a time in the first session, with Old Lyme goalie Tori Sims needing to make a gutsy save on a shot by Katarzyna Zawadzki from point-blank range. And with 3:08 remaining in the first overtime, Notre Dame missed an open net when Sims came out to scoop up a ball and slipped, with the Lancers' shot bouncing off the post.

The overtime sessions were also, from a players' perspective, long. During the second overtime, Forstein, LaValle and Notre Dame goalie Sierra Chavez (18 saves) were all having trouble standing up.

“It was really difficult,” Forstein said of the combined 110 minutes of soccer. “At one point, I asked for a sub … but there were only nine minutes left, nine minutes left in my entire soccer career.”

“Everybody gave their best,” Ouellette said. “Everybody tried to get to every ball, make every pass. We went out there (in the second half) and just picked it up. After one goal, it was like, 'We're back in this.'”

Both teams appeared stunned following the tie, with the huddles lingering on the field.

Ouellette, a sophomore, said she agrees with the game ending before being decided by penalty kicks.

“The thing with penalty kicks is you're just kicking the ball in the goal,” Ouellette said. “It's not really deciding who is the better team.”

It's the second co-championship for Old Lyme, which also tied Immaculate for the crown in 2009 under coach Don Desautels. The Wildcats finished this season, despite having a team with only four seniors, 17-2-3.

Old Lyme defeated No. 8 Holy Cross 4-0 in the Class S semifinals, scoring four times in a seven-minute span of the second half. The Wildcats also won the Shoreline Conference tournament 4-0 over Morgan.

“I'm relieved that it's over. I'm sad that it's over,” said Old Lyme's Gleason, who admits to not sleeping the nights before his team plays. “(The season) is hard. It's taxing. I hope that my kids who graduate do well in life.

“… At halftime, I let Jeremy (Kiefer) talk, I let Ally (Gleason, both assistant coaches) talk. Then I talked,” Gleason said. “I said, 'This is Wildcat soccer. You've faced adversity from the first day of the season. If you're going to let two goals bother you, we might as well walk off the field right now. It's time you made a statement. Let's go out and play our game.'

“Both of these teams are champions.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday