ELIZABETH TWP — It took all of regulation and 29 minutes, 33 seconds of overtime to decide the WPIAL Class AAA girls soccer championship.

The result was tears of heartbreak for Seneca Valley.

Veronica Latsko scored a header off a corner kick from Rachel Troscinski with 27 seconds left in double overtime to lift Peters Township to a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Raiders on Saturday at Elizabeth Forward High School.

“The corner Rachel played was perfect. It was like an inch from the goal line,” said Latsko. “All I had to do was just stick my head out and it just went in.”

The Indians' players and coaches spilled on to the field, piling on top of Latsko in jubilation after she netted the winner.

The score snapped a 19-game winning streak for the Raiders, who held a 1-0 edge through most of the second half despite a disadvantage in shots on goal.

“They're a great bunch of kids,” said Seneca Valley coach Dave Sylvester of his team. “It was evident by the game.

“They play with their heart and they play with passion,” he added. “To lose it with seconds left before you go to a shootout, that makes it all the more brutal.”

It spoiled a stellar effort from Seneca Valley sophomore goalkeeper Jess Neill, who held off Peters Township for most of the match with several jaw-dropping saves and finished with 19 overall.

“Oh, she's sick,” said Sylvester. “For a sophomore with her athletic ability, if she was 6-foot tall, there wouldn't be a school in the country that wouldn't be snagging her up. I don't know why you wouldn't take her even at 5-2 or whatever she is.

“She's just a great athlete,” he continued. “She's made some saves this year that 6-footers would have never made.”

The Indians (20-1) generated more opportunities than the Raiders (19-2), but were forced to scramble from behind after Morgan Williams blasted a 30-yard free kick past Peters Township goalie Carly Johns with 10:02 remaining in the first half.

“It was nice to go up on them. I think it stunned them a bit,” said Sylvester. “It was actually like hitting a hornet's nest.”

Although the Indians responded with a flurry of scoring chances, Neill made sure Seneca Valley took the slim lead into halftime with a leaping fingertip save, followed by a pair of stops from point-blank range.

“Their keeper was tremendous,” said Peters Township coach Pat Vereb. “She must have made about eight saves right on the goal line throughout the game.”

Seneca Valley nearly went up 2-0 when Alex Bilka fed Williams on the right side, who centered it back to Bilka for a solid shot. Johns was in position to make the save, though, and Peters Township finally broke through to tie the game a couple of minutes later.

With pressure at the net, Madison Santo took a rebound off the post and slipped it into the net to knot the match with 12:38 remaining in regulation.

“It was tough because obviously Seneca Valley is a very classy, playoff battled team and they've been here before,” said Vereb. “They came out with a good plan and they got the first goal, which gave them a lot of momentum.

“We really had to struggle to fight to get the game back into our grips,” he added. “I think once we tied it, we relaxed a little bit and played a better brand of soccer.”

Peters Township — the two-time defending PIAA champions — earned a 21-6 advantage in shots on goal and 14-0 in corner kicks.

Vereb did not want to see the championship decided by penalty kicks.

“They gave us everything we could handle and we had to work to literally the last seconds to win it,” said the Peters Township coach. “We thought we had the momentum and tried to win the game in overtime as opposed to penalty kicks where anything can happen.”

With Neill's brilliant play, Sylvester knew his team stood a good chance in penalty kicks if the Raiders managed to keep the Indians out of the net for 27 more seconds.

“I said, 'Listen, if we can just hang on, I like our chances if we got to PK's.' But unfortunately we didn't get there,” Sylvester explained. “Peters is a darn good team. They have some great, skillful players. I'm very proud of my girls for the effort of hanging in there.”

Seneca Valley now shifts its sights to the PIAA Tournament, where the Raiders will play District 6 champion State College at Central Mountain High School on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

“We have one goal left,” said Sylvester, “so we'll see if we can rebound and go get that one.”