BUTLER TWP - Wednesday's North Allegheny-Butler girls soccer game surprisingly came down to a jump ball.

And with it, the Tigers took possession of the game.

Jordan Gapczynski kicked in a loose ball in front of an open net with 24:29 remaining in the game to come away with a 1-0 section victory over the Golden Tornado.

The net was open as goalie Lisa Rodgers collided with a North Allegheny shooter while both jumped for the ball.

Rodgers stayed down and Gapczynski, who was standing a couple of feet away, took a couple of steps and buried the shot.

Rodgers would leave the game - replaced by Amanda Jaskot - but returned with 19 minutes left.

""I'm thankful for the win, but these are two phenomenal teams," said Tigers coach Chet Gapczynski. "Butler might feel robbed, but it's a 50-50 ball. I'd like to see the tape.

"My thought is the goalie came out and cleaned my player's clock. (Rodgers) has to hold it and it just came out the way it did," Gapczynski added.

"It was a frustrating goal," said Butler coach Marlene Peoples. "It's something we'll just have to deal with.

"We weren't surprised it was a one-goal game. I expected it to be tight. The whole section is tight," she added.

With the loss, Butler fell to 6-3-1 in the section (6-6-2 overall) while the Tigers moved to 5-3-2, 8-3-2 overall.

The two squads are battling with Pine-Richland (7-3), Seneca Valley (6-2-2) and Fox Chapel (4-3-2) for three playoff spots from the section.

"We started out 6-0 and had some situations with the death in the family of one player," said Gapczynski. "Emotionally, it took a lot out of us and we had two starters out after the sixth win.

"(Wednesday), we needed to get everyone back. It was great to see everything going well," he added.

Butler had some early chances in the first half when Kelly Hilderbrand's shot hit the crossbar just five minutes into the game, then Tigers' senior goalie Leann Kania made a pair of aggressive stops to keep a couple of Butler shooters from getting a point-blank shot off.

Julie Lineman had a header off a corner kick 12:40 before the break that was just wide.

Gapczynski had a shot in the closing minutes that hit the crossbar that sent both teams scoreless at the half.

"We were slow to come out in the first half," said Peoples. "I wasn't very pleased, but in the second half, we played much better."

Peoples was especially pleased with how her team handled themselves after the goal.

"They picked it up and came out even stronger," said Peoples. "They were inspired."

"One thing I like about playing here is there is no headhunting," said Gapczynski. (Butler) plays with a lot of class and they're well coached. This is our favorite field. We play on the turf, but I like this grass."

Butler has two section games remaining - Monday at Shaler then home for Senior Night against Seneca Valley.

Peoples knows a lot will be riding on those games.

"We have to be ready to go and finish the season strong," said Peoples. "We have to be ready to win."