Mars finally breaks through vs Penn-Trafford into WPIAL girls soccer final on Miley Gratton’s OT winner
FOX CHAPEL — Junior forward Miley Gratton “comes up big in the biggest moments,” Mars girls soccer head coach Blair Gerlach said.
“That’s just what she does,” the coach added.
Gratton realized the biggest moment of her season so far — and came through with the lone goal of the game as the No. 4-seed Planets (18-1-1) upended No. 1 Penn-Trafford (16-3-3) 1-0 in overtime of their WPIAL Class 3A semifinal game Tuesday night at Fox Chapel Stadium.
“Overtime is super, super stressful,” Mars goalkeeper Ciara Spaun said. “When Miley scored that goal, I just started sprinting toward the other end of the field.”
The tally came 7:30 into the first overtime. The win was Mars’ 12th in a row and sends the Planets to their 12th WPIAL title game during Gerlach’s tenure as coach.
Mars will face the Shaler-Plum winner for the district crown at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at F.N.B. Stadium in Pittsburgh.
Warriors goalkeeper Natalie Broadwater was simply trying to kick the ball upfield, but Gratton got in the way of the clearing attempt.
“Their keeper made a mistake,” Gratton said. “The ball hit me in the chest and dropped right at my feet. They had two defenders there, but they didn’t know what was going on. They were expecting the ball to come to them.
“There was nobody in front of me. I was free to walk in a little closer to the net and was able to finish.”
WPIAL 3A Girls Soccer Semifinal FINAL: Mars 1 Penn-Trafford 0, OT Miley Gratton scores the game-winner at the 6:30 mark of overtime. https://t.co/ucjdgd8hSb
— Westmoreland Sports Network (@WestmorelandSN) November 4, 2026
The goal ended a night of frustration in a positive way for the Planets.
While Mars held a slim 6-5 edge in shots on net for the contest, the team shot wide of or over the net on numerous quality scoring chances, especially in the second half. Mars had five corner kicks to Penn-Trafford’s two.
“That stuff can happen. You have nights like that,” Gerlach said of the missed opportunities. “The word for our team tonight was resiliency. Penn-Trafford counter-attacked well tonight. They could have beaten us.”
With 3:10 left in regulation, Jade Breese, Mars’ leading goal scorer this season with 16, took a free kick from only 19 yards out. The ball whistled past the net, barely wide left.
Breese got off a high arching shot with 1:50 left that just missed the net, as well. Mackenzie Powell had a pair of shots from inside the box in the first half but missed the net both times. Brielle Krepin feathered a pass over to Breese at the far corner of the net 14 minutes into the game.
Broadwater made a leaping save to deny that shot.
Gratton’s 14th goal of the season ended the frustration.
“Had we lost, yeah, we’d have been thinking of this one for a long time,” Gratton said. “But it would have been 100% on us. Fortunately, things turned out in our favor.”
Mars has allowed only six goals all season. But Penn-Trafford sophomore forward Ellie Lebe just missed making it seven in the waning moments of regulation time.
Lebe, the Warriors’ top scorer with 25 goals this season, got free down the left sideline with time ticking down. She kept the ball in play along the back line, deftly moving closer to Spaun.
Lebe let loose a shot with two seconds let, but Spaun hugged the near goalpost and made the save, holding on to the ball as time expired.
“All I was thinking on that play was I had to make the save for my team, to keep us playing,” Spaun said. “I saw her coming and just protected that side of the net. The ball came right into me.
“We were pressing to score there and left ourselves short on the back end,” Gerlach said. “Ciara makes the clutch save when we need her to. We definitely needed her to make that one.”
