CLARION— Unintentional or not, the hand-ball was called. And it handed Seton-LaSalle the momentum it needed.

Senior forward Danielle Joseph — one of two 20-goal scorers on the Rebels' roster — scored on a penalty kick from 17 yards out with 13 minutes, six seconds left in the first half Tuesday night.

The goal snapped a scoreless tie and propelled Seton-LaSalle to a 2-0 PIAA Class AAfirst-round girls soccer playoff victory over Karns City.

The win marked the Rebels' first state tournament victory in nearly 20 years.

"Getting the first goal was important to us,"first-year Seton-LaSalle coach Brooke Mangis said. "In our last game (4-1 WPIALsemifinal loss to Greensburg Central), we gave up a goal in the first two minutes and played on our heels the rest of the game."

The Gremlins' best chance to score the first goal came off the toe of freshman midfielder Millie McKain. Her arching shot drifted just over the crossbar less than 13 minutes into the contest.

Seton-LaSalle nearly scored the first goal less than a minute into the game, but Julieanne Scott knocked the ball away from 20-goal scorer Erin McCreary just before she could pull the trigger from point-blank range.

Until they scored on the penalty kick, the Rebels did not threaten again in the first half.

"I have no problem with the way our girls played tonight,"Karns City coach Lisa Castiglione said. "There were some horrible calls early that took us out of things emotionally for a while, but we bounced back. The ball has to get across that line for you to win and sometimes that just doesn't happen.

"That hand ball could have been called either way. It was unitentional, so the officials could have just let play continue. But the ref blew his whistle and once he did, he had to follow through with the call."

The call handed Seton-LaSalle (17-4) a penalty kick directly in front of the net. Senior goalkeeper Kiersten Foreback dove for Joseph's shot, but it was out of her reach and sailed inside the right goalpost.

Karns City (18-4-1) nearly tied the game with 7:21 left in the half as Allyson Kepple out-ran two defenders and goalkeeper Christina Blasi to the ball and rolled a shot past the out-of-position netminder.

Defender Abby Buckholt followed the play, however, and kicked the ball out of danger before it rolled into the net.

The Gremlins fell behind by two goals with 35:22 left in the game. Joseph took a shot that caromed off the left goalpost, right to teammate Molly Walsh, whose rebound shot hit the corner of the right goalpost and crossbar and deflected into the net.

"Usually, a team falls behind by a second goal and their heads drop,"Castiglione said. "Our girls kept coming and coming hard."

Indeed they did. Kepple and Samantha Ryan were robbed by brilliant saves seconds apart, less than two minutes after Walsh's goal. Scott's free kick from 20 yards sailed just wide of the far post with 28 minutes left.

Scott drilled another shot just wide of the right post from 25 yards out moments later.

"Julieanne controls the ball so well,"Castiglione said. "You could see the difference in our offense once we moved her up to midfield."

Karns City had 11 shots on goal to Seton-LaSalle's seven, but the Gremlins were limited to only two corner kicks all night.

""Honestly, we didn't know anything about them,"Mangis said. "We did a good job of not giving them many open shots."

Seton-LaSalle will play Slippery Rock — a 1-0 double-overtime winner over WPIALchampion South Park — in the second round Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

Goaltender Foreback is the lone senior on the Karns City roster, which includes 30-goal scorers Kepple and Michelle Sweeney.

"We have a lot to look forward to next year,"Castiglione said. "And we played pretty darn well this year. These girls trusted me and in return, they gave me everything they had."