JACKSON TWP — Off the crossbar, off the goalpost, to the left of the net, to the right of the net.

Everywhere but in the net.

Karns City's girls soccer season ended Saturday with a frustrating 1-0 PIAA Class AA quarterfinal loss to Sewickley Academy at Seneca Valley High School.

"Sometimes it's your day, sometimes it's not your day," Gremlins coach Joe Meshanko said with a shrug.

This was not Karns City's day.

Sophomore midfielder Julieanne Scott had a couple of prime scoring chances in the game's first 10 minutes. Less than seven minutes into the game, her shot from 20 yards out, directly in front of the net, was bobbled, but handled by Sewickley goalkeeper Kelly McCormick.

Two minutes later, Karns City (20-3) took the first of its five corner kicks on the day. Kristen Barnhart lofted the ball over everybody, with Scott having a chance all alone to the left of the net.

Her shot barely missed the left corner, wide of the goal.

Senior forward Brittni Grenninger — with 194 career goals — fired a shot just wide left with 22:21 left in the first half.

Sewickley Academy (14-9-2) missed a golden chance of its own with 10:27 left in the half. Senior midfielder Brittany Urick sent sophomore forward Caylee Rafalko in alone on goalkeeper Michelle Sweeney.

Rafalko elected to dribble the ball in deep against Sweeney, but lost her shooting angle. She slid a shot past the goalkeeper that rolled across the goal-mouth and wide of the far left post.

"Yeah, she went in too far," Sewickley Academy coach Jessica Peluso admitted. "She should have shot it earlier … But she knew enough to correct her mistake."

Sure enough, Urick sent Rafalko in alone on Sweeney — this time on the left side — less than two minutes later. As Sweeney approached her, Rafalko rolled a shot into the left corner of the net with 8:42 left in the half.

"Caylee has scored a lot of big goals for us this year," Peluso said.

That one stood up — barely.

Only 10 seconds after the goal, Grenninger got an open look from 25 yards out and whistled the ball just wide of the right post.

Karns City's best scoring chance occurred with 24:16 left in the game. Grenninger blasted a shot down the middle that hit the low portion of the crossbar, bounced off the goal crease and deflected back on to the field of play."She missed by inches … I don't know if it was that much," Meshanko said.In the final 20 minutes, Meshanko moved defender Nikki McElroy up as an extra attacker as the Gremlins frantically tried to get even.McElroy took one shot that hit the football goalpost above the net. With 15 minutes left, she delivered a pass to Barnhart in the crease, but senior Sewickley defender Alex Bellay guarded her closely and Barnhart couldn't get off a shot.A Barnhart corner kick was deflected wide of the goal by Grenninger with 13 minutes remaining."Scoring the first goal means a ton when you get this far and they (Sewickley) got it," Meshanko said. "We did what we had to do to try to get even."You have to finish plays in this sport and we didn't do that. You don't get points for coming close."Sewickley Academy was three-time defending WPIAL Class AA champion before losing to Greensburg Central in the semifinal round this year. The Panthers have a rematch with Greensburg Central in the Western Final as they try to reach their fourth state title game in eight years.Sewickley Academy won the state title in 2003. The squad has scored just 55 goals all season. Grenninger scored 71 for Karns City.The Panthers started this season 1-4 and played a few Class AAA and AAAA opponents during the year."We'd rather lose a game and learn something rather than beat up on somebody and get nothing out of it," Peluso said.The Panthers lost senior sweeper Elise Kaye to a lower leg injury Saturday and her status for the remainder of the playoffs is in doubt.Karns City outscored its opponents 134-23 this season. The Gremlins lose nine seniors: Barnhart, Grenninger, McElroy, Brittany Angert, Danielle Hillwig, Keirstin McGinnis, Adrienne Olszak, Kasey Olcus and Kayla Yough.The Gremlins have won eight consecutive District 9 titles and won a state playoff game this season for the first time in eight years."These girls accomplished a lot," Meshanko said. "We're going to have to reload a little bit, but we'll be back."