Montville — There wasn’t much celebration, despite the accomplishment. Maybe that’s the byproduct of such a healthy respect for the opponent.

And so while Lyman Memorial is on to its second girls’ soccer championship banner inside its gym — the first one with all the years depicting titles is full — the reaction to another one Tuesday at Delaporta Field was a group exhale.

“St. Bernard never makes it easy,” Lyman coach Mark Morello said, following his team’s 1-0 victory that secured that Division IV title of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.

“Shane (St. Bernard coach Shane Clarke) has a great group. We are evenly matched. They really get the best out of us. I hope we get the best out of them, too.”

The Bulldogs, whose only loss came in a nonleague game to East Granby, finished the season unbeaten in the division.

Lyman junior Magda Carpenter snapped a scoreless tie with a goal from 25 yards out midway through the second half. Neither the Bulldogs nor the Saints had many scoring chances.

“We played well,” Clarke said. “We told the kids before the game that to beat Lyman, we’d have to leave every last bit we had on the field. You can’t go 90-95 percent against them. I thought we gave everything we had.

“Lyman’s goal came from a great player.”

Lyman and St. Bernard may meet again as early as next week in the ECC Division II tournament and perhaps again after that in the Class S state tournament. Both can make cases to win next week and make deep runs in the states.

“We’ve overcome a lot,” Morello said. “We have 23 kids in the program and with injuries, we probably haven’t had 18 or 19 healthy at any one time. But it’s a close knit bunch. They have things you can’t teach.”

Clarke, meanwhile, lost senior Emily Hernandez to a rib injury in the second half. He’s looking forward to her return as the postseason awaits.

“Emily is such an important player,” Clarke said. “You could see we didn’t have the same scoring chances after she got hurt. But I saw some good things today. Our back three (Gwyneth Howes, Maeve Suprenant, Caitlyn Kuhn) were the best they’ve been all year today. If we get Emily back and those three keep playing like that, we will be just fine.”

m.dimauro@theday.com