COLLIER TWP — Garrett Gabriel did everything he could to keep the Mars soccer team alive.

The Planets' keeper was a goal-saving machine, a brick wall in cleats.

The senior made 13 saves, almost all of them requiring extraordinary effort to reach.

But there was that one shot launched off the toe of South Park junior Ryan Eggert that got away.

Gabriel dove to his left and got a gloved hand on the spinning shot, but it ricocheted into the top right corner of the net with 12:02 remaining in the match.

That's the only goal South Park needed in a 1-0 win over Mars in the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals at Chartiers Valley High School Thursday night.

“Garrett carried us on his back,” said Mars coach Chris Knauff. “I thought we played well, but they out-played us today. They out-possessed us and had a lot more scoring opportunities. If it weren't for Garrett, it would have been way worse.”

South Park (18-1-1) avenged a 1-0 loss to Mars on the same field last year in the WPIAL Class AA semifinals.

Eagles' coach Jon Cantwell smiled when asked if it made this victory a little more satisfying.

“Probably on multiple levels,” the coach said. “Particularly after last year. Same surroundings. They ended our season last year. They've ended our playoff run three of the last four years and I'm sure this isn't the last heavyweight fight between us.”

The match started out as a pretty good tussle between two very skilled teams.

Mars (14-5-2) had a pair of opportunities to score early, but South Park keeper Zach Palamara made spectacular saves — tipping a shot over the crossbar and then diving to swallow another one.

Mars had few opportunities after that.

South Park outshot the Planets 21-6 in the match and 10-2 in a second half that was played almost exclusively in Mars' end of the field.

“We started attacking to the outside,” Cantwell said. “We told them in practice all week to not go up the middle on them, that they are strong up the middle, but we did it anyway.”

The loss snaps a string of three consecutive WPIAL final appearances by Mars. The Planets won two of them.

“It's definitely not the way you want it to end,” Knauff said. “I think South Park is one of the top teams. I expect them to go to the finals.”