O’HARA TWP — There was a long train of Butler girls soccer players racing to scoop up goalkeeper Anna Voelker. Following 115 minutes of game time and almost three hours of real time, losing was hard for everyone.

No doubt, everyone was miserable. Driving rain pelted the Golden Tornado during the entirety of its 2-1 (4-2) shootout loss in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs Monday night at Fox Chapel.

Coming so close to their first playoff win in 14 years was a tough situation to stomach. Tenth-seeded Butler (11-8) made its first two penalty kicks before having one saved and another float over the crossbar.

Fox Chapel’s Katie Livingston then made the winner.

“Games are hard to win in Quad-A,” Butler coach Steve Perri said. “It doesn’t matter what team you are playing. ... No matter if you are playing a top team from another section, they’ve been in the playoffs every year for how long? Or someone like us that’s brand new. It’s hard to win games. (Penalty kicks) make it harder. You miss and you feel like it’s your fault, but there are five people taking them.”

Early on, Butler had a hard time clearing the ball away from its net. A bad bounce set up the first Fox Chapel (13-5-1) goal. The ball landed on Abby Pogue’s foot, who sailed it toward the net, which resulted in a goal with 17:12 left before halftime.

Conceding the first goal is something Butler struggled with this season.

“We’ve been there all year,” Perri said. “We always give up the first goal. I don’t think everyone said ‘Uh oh’. I wish we started every game off well, but I don’t think anything prepared us for it better.”

Falling behind did seem to give the Golden Tornado a burst. For the next 30 minutes, the Golden Tornado pushed forward. Around eight minutes into the stretch, Liz Simms redirected a free kick from Brittnie Spithaler into the back of the net.

The Golden Tornado continued to press forward, lobbing 18 shots on net, but never found a go-ahead goal.

“Sometimes you lose momentum and you lose control of the game,” Peter Torres said. “You have to be able to withstand the pressure that comes with that. When there’s the moment we lose the moment and control we try to buckle down and play good defense.”

Spithaler had an opportunity with 1:52 left in the first overtime that sailed just wide of the post. Neither team had many good opportunities in the extra time, taking mostly long-range shots that both keepers handled easily.

Mother Nature ruined both team’s gameplan.

“The plan was thrown under the bus when you looked at the weather we had today,” Torres said. “A skipped ball could cause a deflection that bounces off the goalkeeper and you have to be able to finish.”

In the shootout, Voelker punched the first Fox Chapel kick over the crossbar. Maci Lineman and Aidyn Trettel then made their attempts to put Butler ahead 2-1. But the more experienced Foxes didn’t miss again and ruined the Golden Tornado’s chances of advancing.