ELIZABETH TWP — With a long, discolored bruise on her leg, Piper Claypool smiled through the pain.

It was a battle scar the senior on the Freeport girls soccer team was proud to wear.

Claypool scored on a long, arcing shot over Waynesburg keeper Emily McCarty that just dipped under the crossbar a little less than four minutes into the match.

The quick goal sent the Yellowjackets on their way to a 3-1 win in the WPIAL Class semifinals Saturday at Elizabeth Forward High School.

Freeport (16-3-1) will make its first appearance in the WPIAL finals, where it will play Freedom at Highmark Stadium on a day and time to be determined.

“I'm really excited. We worked so hard to get here,” Claypool said. “That was only my second goal of the season, so it was really great to start us off in this game with that high intensity. I felt like that got us really hyped.”

It also knocked Waynesburg (16-3) off balance and the Raiders never recovered.

Freeport dominated possession and frustrated Waynesburg and its star, Madison Clayton.

The Raiders had just two shots on goal in the first half and a mere three in the match.

Freeport took control early in the second half when McCarty left the box in an attempt to clear, but missed the kick badly, leaving Cameron Lindsay with an open net for a 2-0 lead.

“You do get super, super nervous, especially me, because everyone is expecting you to put it in,” Lindsay said, smiling. “If you miss it, everyone is like, 'How did she miss a wide-open net?' It's OK because I got it.”

Lindsay then set up Kaylee Comperatore just five minutes later for a goal to make it 3-0.

The relentlessness of Freeport was just what coach Brittni Grenninger envisioned.

“Our girls were pretty pumped for this,” Grenninger said. “They have never been this far before, let alone to a championship. I told them if they came out shooting they had a very good opportunity to win this game. But they had to shoot and they had to do it quick and four minutes in we scored a goal and we just rode that the whole game.”

Waynesburg coach Joe Kijowski lamented that his team did not come out and match the Yellowjackets' intensity.

“We made some mistakes that aren't characteristic of how we normally play,” he said.

Clayton scored for Waynesburg with a little more than five minutes remaining to avoid the shutout.

It was the first time in the last six matches that the Yellowjackets had surrendered a goal.

“Every game this season we've gotten better,” said senior defender Kim Mixon. “There's always room for improvement, but honestly every game we're going out 100 percent. I think we're doing really well and if we keep it up I can see us going a long way.”

For now, Freeport is focused on the next match, which Grenninger always stresses as the most important.

This time, it really is.

Lindsay is still trying to wrap her head around the fact Freeport will be playing for a WPIAL title.

“Even hearing those words gives me chills,” Lindsay said. “If you would have told me this my freshman year, that come senior year we would be up there, playing at Highmark, I would have thought you were crazy.”

“To be able to win it, if we can, that would be even better.”