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The Bishop Guilfoyle Academy girls soccer team, which is the three-time defending District 6 Class 1A champions, was given everything it could handle on Thursday evening in the district semifinals.
The Lady Marauders were outshot by Juniata, 15-12, and had to battle for every possession they could get. But in the end, an Emma Marasco goal with a little more than five minutes remaining was the difference in the top-seeded Lady Marauders' 3-2 win over No. 4 Juniata at Mansion Park.
"That was a really good team," BG coach Joe DeLeo said. "We knew based on the competition they played in their regular season they were nothing like their record. Quite frankly, I've been worried about it for a few weeks."
The Indians started their season at 1-8 but rebounded to win seven of their last nine to finish the regular season at 8-10. The year culminated with a one-goal loss in the district semis against last year's state runner-up, which Juniata coach Ellie Shepps will take.
"No one is ever happy with a loss, but I'm extremely proud of my girls," Shepps said. "We haven't played a game since Oct. 17 and just seeing the effort they've put in at practice the last week and a half and the effort they showed tonight, I can't be upset about that.
"It was a fantastic all-around game. A couple pieces here and there that I hoped would fit together, but that's not always how soccer goes. I'm just extremely proud of them tonight."
Marasco booted the game-winner with 5:19 left on the clock from about 25 yards away to send the team to its fourth straight district title game.
"I found a little bit of space to take a shot," Marsaco said. "It wasn't going to hurt to take a shot, and we had to get an opportunity."
"She had some pretty good opportunities before that. She was getting just a hair frustrated, but she dug through that," DeLeo said. "And to no surprise, she was there when we needed her the most. She's been like that her whole four years."
The Lady Marauders got the opening goal of the game from Meggie Ritchey, and took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but Juniata had the lead in shots, 8-6, after the first 40 minutes.
It was a theme for the game where Juniata was getting more opportunities at the goal than Bishop Guilfoyle.
"Most of the game they out-possessed us, which is not what we want," DeLeo said. "Overall, the defense stepped up when it needed to, offense was certainly there. We had a lot of good shots that just didn't go in for a while. That happens in this game."
BG also got a second-half goal from Bella Noel off a corner kick, while the Indians picked up goals from Carolyn Heidenreich and Sylvia Brubaker.
"They came out hard, and they were a better team than I think we expected them to be," Marasco said.
Bishop Guilfoyle will play Bishop Carroll in the 1A championship game at 7 p.m. at Hollidaysburg's Tiger Stadium next week.
SCORE BY HALVES
Juniata 0 2 -- 2
Bishop Guilfoyle 1 2 -- 3
First Half: BG--Ritchey, 24:13.
Second Half: J--Heidenreich, 42:54; BG--Noel, 53:47; J--Brubaker, 58:10; BG--Marasco, 74:41.
Records: Juniata (8-11); Bishop Guilfoyle (17-0-3).