CLARION - Winning the District 9 Class AA title has been child's play for the Karns City girls soccer team recently.

Getting a victory in the PIAA playoffs, however, has not.

The Gremlins, who captured their seventh consecutive district title last week, found themselves Tuesday facing a Shady Side Academy team making its first-ever appearance in the state tournament.

Despite an evenly played game, the Indians' Leah Briston lofted a shot from 20 yards out just over the reach of Karns City goalie Keirsten Foreback with 13:51 remaining for the first score of the game.

That goal stood up to give Shady Side Academy a 1-0 victory at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium.

The loss was the Gremlins' seventh first-round loss in as many years.

"One would really be nice," said Karns City coach Joe Meshanko. "From where we started to where we are now, we've improved leaps and bounds.

"I couldn't be more proud of these ladies. They played well and very respectable," he added

On the other side, the Indians, who lost the WPIAL Championship to Sewickley Academy 1-0 Saturday, will be advancing to the quarterfinals.

The Indians joined the WPIAL 11 years ago and the WPIAL championship game was the deepest the team has ever made it.

"We were just looking forward to the state playoffs and put the WPIAL championships behind us," said Shady Side coach Sarah Lettrich

The game was a defensive struggle and scoring opportunities were few and far between.

"At the half, we were comfortable," said Meshanko. "We made a couple of adjustments. We were in the game and we had as many opportunities as they did."

With 18 minutes left in the contest, the Indians (17-5-2) had a direct kick followed by a pair of corner kicks but were unable to capitalize on any of them.

The direct kick from 25 yards away was deflected by Foreback, but was kicked out of bounds. The Indians' corner kick from Katherine Lee was again kicked out and Lee's second attempt was cleared away.

But less than four minutes later, the Indians finally broke through.

"We saw it coming," said Lettrich. "There was a nice drop-back pass from Meredith Mullen. It was a beautiful shot."

The Gremlins' Brittni Grenninger had a couple of chances late in the game.

With 12:42 remaining, Grenninger picked up a stray ball that Shady Side couldn't clear, but two defenders were able to knock the ball away in front of the net.

With 4:57 left, she held off two defenders and got a hard shot from about 20 yards away, but Indians goalie Stephanie Woelfel made the stop.

The Gremlins (19-5) also had two corner kicks in the final four minutes but couldn't get a solid scoring chance of either one.

"I told the ladies that 99.99 percent of the teams that play this year lose," said Meshanko. "They all don't go home winners. We've come a long way. The ladies have grown and matured, and that's what it's all about."

Notes:

Shady Side Academy was the No. 6 seed coming out of the WPIAL. … The Indians are 12-2-2 after a 5-3 start. … This was the last game for Karns City seniors Jessica Smith, Brittany Green, Lauren McGarvey, Manda Double and Ashley Miller. … Foreback made eight saves for the Gremlins and Woelfel had nine saves.