CLARION — Familiarity breeds confidence.

That was the case for the Beaver High girls soccer team, anyway.

Junior midfielder Erin Hogan scored two goals and senior midfielder Sarah Turnley tallied a goal and an assist Tuesday night as the Bobcats blanked Karns City 4-0 in a first-round PIAA Class AA playoff game at Clarion University.

The game marked Beaver's first PIAA girls soccer playoff appearance in the program's 19-year history.

"We've scrimmaged Karns City in the preseason for the past three years," Beaver coach Gregg Gailey said. "It's strange that you would draw an opponent that you know in the first round of the state tournament," he added.

"That definitely helped us. The girls were relaxed, much more so than at any point during the WPIAL Tournament.

The Bobcats (17-2) suffered a 1-0 loss to South Park in the WPIAL semifinals, snapping a 16-game winning streak during which they allowed only six goals.

"We're pretty stingy when it comes to allowing shots," Gailey said.

Karns City (12-7-1) managed only one shot the entire game. That occurred with 8:37 remaining when senior forward Emily Potchak put a penalty kick on goal from 35 yards out. Beaver goalkeeper Brianna Hellier easily made the save.

"We knew this would be a tough game because we do scrimmage them," KC coach Lisa Castiglione said. "We do it because we want to see that caliber of competition."

Beaver had 14 shots and took five corner kicks to the Gremlins' one.

After Turnley had a goal waved off by an offside call at the 11:02 mark of the first half, the game was still scoreless when the Gremlins missed a chance to take the lead. Millie McKain got a pass through to Nicole Harmon in the box, just to the left of the net.

Harmon rolled a shot wide of the post with 2:10 left.

Hogan got the Bobcats on the board with 30.2 seconds remaining in the half. A pass from near midfield eluded three KC defenders and found the foot of Hogan. She drilled it past Gremlins goalkeeper Brooke Miller from less than 20 yards away.

"Getting the first goal is big in every game because it can put one team on its heels and give the scoring team momentum," Castiglione said. "But the first goal of the game doesn't mean the end of the game.

"No matter what the score was, our girls never quit fighting."

Beaver junior midfielder Shelby Lloyd scored her fourth goal of the year with 31:19 left in the game. Turnley scored her fourth goal of the year off a corner kick into the box that the Gremlins failed to clear with 18:03 remaining.

Hogan's second goal of the night and ninth of the year occurred with 11:41 left when Miller aggressively came away from her net to lunge for a Turnley pass.

The ball eluded her grasp, however, and Hogan kicked it into the vacated net.

McKain, KC's leading scorer this season with 19 goals and 13 assists, was helped off the field with 56 seconds left when she aggravated an ankle injury.

"Millie's been playing with a badly turned ankle since the Brookville game (first-round of District 9 playoffs)," Castiglione said. "She's a senior, it's the playoffs. ... Sometimes you just don't feel the pain. She took one too many kicks tonight."

Seniors McKain, Potchak, Miller, Harmon, Emily Freiters, Kayce Grimm, Erica Hillwig, and Chelsy Zabicki played their final game for Karns City Tuesday night.

"This is hard because this senior class is the first I've had for all six years I've been head coach," Castiglione said.