Unbeaten and untied yet unable to score, Mounds View’s dream girls’ soccer season hung in the balance longer than expected Tuesday.

Junior Heather Ley scored the game’s lone goal in a 1-0 victory, ensuring the state’s top-ranked team did not falter against upset-minded Maple Grove. Ley’s goal, scored with a little more than one minute remaining in regulation, clinched the Class 2A, Section 5 title. Mounds View will advance to the state tournament for the 11th time, the first since 2010.

Junior Emily Michaelson sent a pass toward Ley, who corralled the ball and put it away.

“Emily crossed it in and I wasn’t going to let the ball get by me,” Ley said. “I was doing everything I could to get it in.”

Until that moment, Ley’s teammates tried shots from multiple angles throughout the game but could not beat Maple Grove senior goalkeeper Casey Autey. Patience has not been Mounds View’s forte this season. The Mustangs’ preferred method of victory has been burying opponents early and often. They won by two or more goals 13 times in the regular season and in both previous section playoff games.

“We really haven’t been tested like this,” Ley said. “It was tough but we had to stay positive. We proved ourselves.”

Mounds View (18-0) defeated Maple Grove 4-0 in September. The third-seeded Crimson clawed back for an all-important rematch. Maple Grove edged No. 6 seed Champlin Park in a quarterfinal shootout then upset No. 2 seed Centennial in the semifinals. But the Crimson, ranked No. 8 in the preseason coaches poll, fell one victory shy of the program’s first-ever state tournament appearance.

Mounds View’s 1-0 victory was its 13th shutout this season, third of the playoffs. First-year coach Terri Patraw graduated from Mounds View in 1987 as the program’s leading career scorer.