ALBUQUERQUE — Hadn't Jenny Tumas seen this before?

There was Albuquerque Academy's girls soccer team, once again piercing the confidence of Los Alamos. Then the Lady Hilltoppers mounted another challenge to the Lady Chargers' advantage.

There was Academy head coach Pete Clinch holding the blue trophy in his right hand, a matching pair with the 2008 trophy he once grasped.

And another Los Alamos season ended with girls slumped lifelessly on the soccer pitch, tears in their eyes and hope flickering out of their spirit.

For the third time in four years, the Lady Hilltoppers (18-4) settled for red when what they really wanted was blue. And for the second straight year, the Lady Chargers (18-4) celebrated in their wake, this time 3-1 victors in the Class AAAA State Tournament title match at the Albuquerque Soccer Complex.

Tumas, the Los Alamos goalkeeper who helped her team fashion 16 shutouts this season, was bemused at her team's fortunes — again.

"It's a bit of déjà vu there," Tumas said.

While so much was so familiar to both sides, those images came in a new narrative.

This time, the Lady Chargers didn't wait until the 67th minute to start releasing the air out of Los Alamos' balloon, as they did in last year's 1-0 title win.

It took only six minutes, as Tumas had a miscommunication with fullback Clare Charsley-Grossman on a Lady Chargers corner kick. It gave Darcy Odom a crease near the left post to head Sage Townshend's cross into the net for 1-0.

It was the first goal allowed by Los Alamos since Sept. 23, and the seed of doubt, confusion and frustration was planted.

"We talked about coming out smoking and getting an early goal, and we did," Clinch said. "That was a big break and it rattled them a little bit."

So did the shots the Lady Hilltoppers missed in the first half.

There were open looks that sailed high, like Sayako Shimada's shot inside the penalty box in the ninth minute.

A direct kick by Kelsey Neal in the 36th minute led to two close-range shots that were blocked by Academy 'keeper Erin Wosick

An Amanda Neal-to-Shaine Riciputi connection short-circuited when Riciputi's sliding shot from the left side of the goal floated wide left eight minutes into the second half. In the 54th minute, Neal fired a point-blank shot from 20 yards at Wosick.

The misses reverberated louder in the 55th minute when forward Caroline Growney found fellow striker Jennifer White streaking into the box to one-touch her sideline cross into the goal for 2-0.

"It's really tough knowing that you leave everything on the field and everyone works their butt off all game, and it's still not good enough," said Riciputi, whose sister, Eliana, was a part of a Los Alamos state championship in cross country earlier in the day.

The scene was set for a Los Alamos comeback like the one it pulled on Academy on Sept. 15, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win.

Gina Stroud rebounded a Kelsey Neal miss into the top shelf of the goal in the 59th minute for 2-1, but Los Alamos never got another clean look at the goal.

That was not the case for Growney, who missed two open shots after the Lady Hilltoppers' goal. She didn't let a third try slip by as she took a loose ball, and broke past a Los Alamos defender to flick an insurance goal with three minutes left in the season.

For a second year in a row, Los Alamos head coach Jiri Kubicek lamented opportunities squandered with his team so close glory.

"We don't convert the chances we had, and they have a couple of chances and they went in," Kubicek said. "That was the difference."

Tumas wasn't around to hear that. She already had before.