COLLIER TWP — As they sat in a circle around coach Blair Gantz, members of the Slippery Rock High School girls soccer team wiped tears from their faces.

Some of the tears were out of sadness for a season that had come to a sudden end just minutes before. Some were out of fondness for what they had accomplished.

The Rockets mustered little offense, but they played valiantly on defense against Greensburg Central Catholic, a team that features three Division I recruits and that made the state championship match last season.

But Greensburg Central Catholic was just a little bit better Tuesday night, downing the Rockets 1-0 at Chartiers Valley High School in the PIAA Class AA semifinals.

The only goal came 58 minutes into the match when junior Nicole Petrillo scored on a header.

"It hurts," said Rockets senior forward Kelsey Drennen. "But, like Blair said, people are going to look in the paper tomorrow and see we lost 1-0. Even that is an upset."

No one gave Slippery Rock (21-3) much of a chance, except for perhaps Slippery Rock and Greensburg coach Jim Hampton.

As the match ground on with neither team scoring, the tension level on the Centurions' bench grew.

So did Hampton's blood pressure.

"At halftime we said, 'You know, we have them. We're in their heads,'" Drennen said. "But, we just didn't pull through."

Hampton let his displeasure be known to his team at the half. But at the same time, he said he realized a lot of their problems had to do with the Rockets.

"My hat's off to Slippery Rock," Hampton said. "They challenged every shot and they played with a tremendous amount of heart."

The Rockets had plenty of shots to challenge.

With Petrillo back in action for her second playoff game after sitting out two months with mononucleosis, the Centurions controlled play throughout the first half.

They outshot Slippery Rock 11-1 in the first 40 minutes and 21-1 in the contest.

The Rockets' two best chances to score came in the first half, when Drennen couldn't get a shot off at point blank range in front of Greensburg keeper Emily Myers and when Jence Rhoads booted a strong shot that Myers stopped.

"I told the girls we'll get a chance here or there," Gantz said. "But we have to connect on them, because we're not going to get many. We knew they were probably going to outshoot us, just like South Park."

In many ways, the first 58 minutes resembled Slippery Rock's win a week ago against South Park on the same field.

The Rockets went 156 minutes on the Chartiers Valley turf without giving up a goal.

A lot of that had to do with freshman goalkeeper Ali Doyle.

She stopped 11 shots — most of them difficult saves — and had one of the best playoff runs of any keeper in the tournament.

Doyle has been in goal since the opening match of the District 10 playoffs in place of Kyra Foley, who is out with a concussion.

"I think she did a great job," Gantz said. "Of course when your starting goalkeeper goes down, it's like, 'Uh oh,' but she has been a savior for us."

Drennen was also in awe of the keeper.

"She's amazing," Drennen said. "She isn't even our first-string goalie. I'm so proud of her."

Greensburg Central Catholic (22-2-1) will play South Williamsport (25-0-1) in the state title game in Hershey at noon Saturday.

Last year, the Centurions lost to Villa Joseph Maria in the state finals.

For Slippery Rock, the best season in school history comes to an end.

"It's definitely an accomplishment to get this far. We made history," Drennen said. "We didn't get as far as we wished, but we got a lot farther than a lot of people thought we would."