Auburn junior Laila Simmons proved that defense wins championships.

The junior center back was named most valuable player after the Tigers blanked Hoover 1-0 in the Class 7A AHSAA State Soccer Championships girls final Saturday at John Hunt Park in Huntsville. She was recognized for her outstanding defense.

“I think our forwards get a lot of credit for scoring. But I get to defend for a great keeper and I have so much help from the back line,” Simmons said. “And I didn’t win this MVP by myself. They helped me get this.”

Second-ranked Auburn (21-3-1) edged No. 3 Hoover (21-5-2) for the blue map trophy. The Tigers fell 2-1 in the 2023 finals to Sparkman and also finished second in 2012, 2015 and 2016.

“They did it,” said Bill Ferguson, who also coaches the boys’ team. “They’re a great group of kids. They believed in each other.

“We were just clinical defensively, organized. And we worked for 80 minutes, worked for each other.”

Junior forward Peyton Bishop scored on a header at 25:49 into the game from the right post inside the box. Camilla Bosman, a sophomore striker/right wing, made the assist from outside the box.

“Camilla crossed it to me and I headed it,” Bishop said. “I feel great. I worked for my team and it felt great.”

“Honestly I wouldn’t have rather done it with any other team,” Bosman said of winning the title. “And this is such an amazing group of girls. And we just worked hard for each other.”

Auburn goalkeeper Melissa Smith finished with 5 saves for the shutout.

The Buccaneers outshot Auburn 12-5. Hoover goalkeeper Lane Morton made 3 saves.

Coach Nick Smith’s Buccaneers had shut out three straight playoff opponents and outscored its playoff foes 8-0 entering the final.

“They played really hard today,” Smith said. “You’ve got to give all the credit to Auburn. I feel bad for our girls. They played well all season. They really wanted it. They came up short. I feel proud for the season they had.”

Hoover had blanked Huntsville 3-0 in Thursday’s semifinals while Auburn beat McGill-Toolen by the same margin.