EDINBORO — Just one minute into the match, Slippery Rock High senior Dan Jeon wound up his powerful left leg and sent a bending shot past West Allegheny goalkeeper Kurtis Lutz.

That was the last goal the Rockets boys soccer team would score despite plenty of opportunities in a 2-1 loss to the Indians in the first round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs at General McLane High Tuesday night.

"Our intensity dropped there a little bit in the first half," said Slippery Rock coach Anthony Buzard. "It wasn't anything we did. We just lost to a great, great team. There's no hanging your head about that."

But Slippery Rock (18-3-1), a mildly surprising winner of District 10, came out and took it to West Allegheny, the No. 3 team in the WPIAL, for the first 15 minutes of the game.

The Rockets had four shots, three of them prime scoring opportunities, during that span.

West Allegheny (20-2-1), though, was able to survive the early onslaught.

"We were really, really flat," said West Allegheny coach Kevin Amos. "It just took us a while to get the motor running."

Once the Indians did, it was a full-throttle attack.

West Allegheny had 19 shots, 10 of them on goal.

Slippery Rock keeper Tyler Little was able to stone West Allegheny shooters on most of them, but the Indians' Josh Jaroszynski came off the bench to pop a shot into the left corner of the net with 8:40 remaining in the first half to tie the score at 1.

Tyler Graziani, who scored 25 goals this season off the bench, scored the decisive tally seven minutes into the second half on a perfectly placed bicycle kick that soared over the outstretched arms of Little into the top left corner of the net.

"They made a couple of great shots," Buzard said. "It's unfortunate. Little played a great game in net again."

Depth has been West Allegheny's strength, and it was again against the Rockets.

"It's definitely been a luxury," Amos said. "We're very deep and we have a lot of good players coming up."

Both teams had numerous opportunities to score in the second half.

Slippery Rock had nine shots in the second half, three of them on goal. But Lutz turned them away each time.

Jeon pushed a left-footed shot just right of the net late and a header by Ethan Bryan soared inches above the cross bar.

Even as the clock ticked under two minutes on Slippery Rock's season, the Rockets made two frantic pushes that came up just short.

"We just didn't quite take advantage of some of the opportunities we had late," Buzard said. "But I am extremely proud of the kids. They battled hard to the very end."

After the match, Amos was able to take a deep breath. During the match though, he was as tense as could be.

This was the first time West Allegheny had been to the state playoffs since 1996. Just a few seasons ago, the Indians notched only two wins.

But this team dominated its foes for much of the season, outscoring them 105-11.

Amos said the Rockets are every bit as good as the teams in the WPIAL.

"They're a great team," Amos said. "They got into the final 16 here in state. Their top guys are very quick. They were a handful."

Buzard will be faced with the task replacing some players who might be irreplaceable: Jeon, Bryan, Devan Hribal, the school's single-season assists record holder, Ryan Hyatt, Chris Dudek and Mike Flecker among them.