“Happy birthday, Kate Booms — now go win us the game.”

That’s probably somewhere along the lines of what Regina head coach, Stefano Moraccini, told his junior defender who, after the Saddlelites and Detroit Country Day Yellowjackets were tied 1-1 after regulation and overtime then went 3-3 in the first five shots of PKs.

The junior stepped up, fired away and capped off her big day with a goal, sealing a regional championship victory for the Saddlelites, 2-1, on Thursday, June 5 at Detroit Country Day.

“They feel awesome. They feel fantastic,” Moraccini said. “They know that it’s been several years since we’ve won a regional championship, so they’re super happy to have won it. Super happy for their fans, for their parents, for the school, for the community, for the staff — for everyone.”

Regina started the PKs with goals by Jenna Moeller, Lydia Gerdes and Maddy Steffani, while DCD’s Julia Goetz and Charlotte Hartley picked up Jenna Shaban after a leadoff miss.

But in the Saddlelites’ fourth and fifth attempts, Cecelia Genna and Ava Janusch couldn’t convert, and Country Day’s Megan Mateer scored to even up the shots, 3-3, after five rounds.

Booms knew she’d be part of an if-necessary second round of kicks, but she didn’t know she’d be up first.

“I wasn’t as confident,” the birthday girl said. “But once I got up there, I was good.”

Her score was preceded by a sprawling save by goalkeeper Lily Hansen, who used all of her 5-foot-3 frame to reject Country Day’s Naime Safiedine, setting up Booms to win the game.

Then, the celebration was on.

“I was feeling just amazing and awesome,” Hansen said. “I was just thinking, ‘Okay, I gotta just save the ball.’ Look at her eyes and go the opposite way.”

Regina, who was eliminated by the Yellowjackets, 1-0, in last year’s regional semifinal, scored first on Thursday when Elyse Mlynarek stepped into a cross from the left side of the net and hit Avery Mason, who had a clear look at the net past DCD keeper Mercedes Arinez, who made life difficult on the Saddlelites for much of the night.

“Beautiful goal,” Moraccini said. “Nice ball, slotted across the goal mouth. And I thought, you know, Avery did a great job putting the ball in the back of the net. Very proud of her. She comes off of the bench and gives us another dimension up top and in the midfield.”

That was just past the 30 minute mark, and the lead held for the next 45 minutes. A free kick by the Yellowjackets soared toward the net, and both Hansen and Booms made a play on the ball but neither managed to stop it, instead deflecting it toward Safiedine, who had the wherewithal to tie the game.

“It is very hard to stay focused and grounded (after that),” Hansen said. “But like, I get back in the game, I just push it over, and I think,’it’s okay. We have another half.’ And then I saved the PK. And then I talked to my — we have big sisters at Regina — so I talked to my big sister at half, and she pushed me through it.”

The regional title is Regina’s first since 2019.

On paper, the Saddlelites’ now-record of 6-5-6 — apart from being a palindrome and Tampa’s area code — might look odd for a team that’s one of four remaining in Division 3. But they didn’t have wins and losses in mind when they built their schedule. They played a murderer’s row of teams which includes Marian (twice), Divine Child, Eisenhower, Dakota, Anchor Bay (twice) and Dearborn, among others.

Clearly, it’s paid off.

“I’d rather lose 1-0 to them and prepare us for this run than to win 5-0 against the team that we’re not going to learn against,” Moraccini said.

The Saddlelites will next play the BWAC’s Almont, who beat Frankenmuth in their regional championship game and took down fellow Macomb County squad Armada along their path to the semifinals.

Country Day’s season ends with a 10-6-2 record.

“I think this team has been tested,” said DCD head coach Laura Hamway. “Like we had an extreme amount of injuries this year, and, you know, we talked about fighting for one another and being patient and, you know, and they’re exactly that, right? I mean, it was Jenna (Shaban) in the back, leading and encouraging, and that’s who Jenna is, right? I mean, like I said, this doesn’t surprise me. This is what playoff soccer is like. I’ve gone in districts and regionals with this team. We go back and forth.

“This is an amazing group of kids. They’ve worked extremely hard. A lot of adversity, amazing leadership, and we’ll pick up the pieces and continue.”