JEFFERSON TWP — Wide left. Wide left. Wide left.

Moon boys soccer coach Arnie Thomas was growing weary of his players' shots drifting wide left of the goal in the extra period.

But with 2:55 remaining in overtime, Matt Munizza finally found the left corner of the Knoch net to give Moon a 3-2 win over the Knights in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs Monday night.

The win spoiled Knoch's comeback from two goals down in the second half.

"We got our feet back under us," Thomas said. "We had to weather the storm in the first five minutes in overtime, and then once we settled in, we had better chances than they did, and Matt got the game winner."

Moon (11-5-2) controlled the pace in overtime much as it did for the first 60 minutes of the contest.

The Tigers had three chances to end the game in overtime, but each shot sailed wide left. Nearly four minutes after the last misfire, Munizza found the net, skimming the ball on the wet grass past diving Knoch goalkeeper Nathan Geibel.

"We have a great group of kids," said Knoch coach Gus Negrette. "But sometimes they lose focus. We just had to keep the pressure on them, and we didn't."

For the first 60 minutes, it looked like Moon would cruise to a win.

Just seven minutes into the contest, Joel Kubias pushed a shot past Geibel for a goal. Less than five minutes into the second half, the Tigers went up 2-0 on a goal by Ryan Suess.

Meanwhile, Moon goalkeeper Brad Yingst kept turning away Knoch's potent offense with several great saves.

He had nine saves in the game. Geibel saved 11 shots.

But Moon's 2-0 lead quickly evaporated.

Eric Steighner scored Knoch's first goal off an assist by Scott Herman with 17:14 remaining in the second half. Less than a minute later, Herman found the net off an assist by Steighner to tie the score.

It sent the Tigers into panic mode and it nearly cost them.

Knoch (13-4) had other opportunities to score late in the second half, but misfired on all of them.

"I honestly thought we could have put another three (goals in)," Negrette said. "And, honestly, we should have. I think it was our game. We just couldn't finish it off at the end."

Thomas was nervous, too. He said he knew coming in how good Knoch's offense was.

"I felt pretty good about our chances when we were up 2-0 because we've played pretty well the last half of the season defensively," Thomas said. "But Knoch has great forwards."

Thomas was happy with his team, too, for not crumbling under the extreme pressure placed upon them by the Knights.

"The most impressive thing is when Knoch tied the game and all the momentum was on their side, we didn't fold," Thomas said. "They were all over us for 25 minutes."

Both teams struggled with the muddy conditions as the game wore on.

By the overtime period, the middle of the field was nothing but a mud pit.

That made the win even sweeter for Thomas, whose team has played on turf fields almost exclusively this season.

"To play on the road in the playoffs — and that's something we haven't done a lot in the last 10 years — is difficult, especially here and in these conditions. It was a great win for us."