BECKLEY — Defenses got the better of offenses Thursday in the Class AAA state semifinal of No. 4 George Washington and No. 1 Morgantown at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex, with both teams playing 100 scoreless minutes until the Patriots won a PK shootout. 5-4 to advance to the state title game and snuff out the Mohigans’ bid for a third straight state title.

“It’s one of the few times in the season where our shots didn’t fall,” Morgantown head coach Bri Frontuto said. “We totally outshot them, outshot them. That’s football, sometimes the best team doesn’t win when it comes to something like this. Their goalkeeper played very well all night, it was to be expected that she would be big for them when it came to shots on goal. Congratulations to them, they got to where they wanted to be.

Going as far as possible with a 0-0 draw, the penalty shootout began with a strike from George Washington’s Emma Cipoletti. Patriots goalkeeper Oriah Allen made a save against Ariana Borneo to give George Washington an advantage. The next six shots all found the back of the net, from George Washington’s Ellie Pray, Ella Chipps and Isabella Smith, and Morgantown’s Lillian Staples, Ella Miller and Gabbie Brown. The Patriots’ Trinity Hodge scored the game-winning goal, a 5-4 advantage.

“This is the most successful class Morgantown girls soccer has ever had,” Frontuto said of her senior class consisting of Railey Reeves, Sajida Elsarrar, Lillian Staples, Ariana Borneo and Riley Lafferty.

“If you look at the last three years, where you went to states three times and won a championship in two of them, it’s hard to describe what they’ve meant to this program. I’m sad we couldn’t get another one for them, but like I said, they left quite a legacy on this program.

Morgantown possessed the ball for the vast majority of the first half and had three shots on goal, including a shot by Ella Miller that was spotted by Patriots goalkeeper Oriah Allen and hit the crossbar in the eighth minute . Allen also stopped a hot shot from Madelyn Mazzoni in the 30th minute to keep the score frozen despite close calls.

George Washington had one shot on goal in the first half, a weak header with 20 seconds left in the break.

Close misses and near misses were repeated in the second half for both teams.

In the 62nd minute, Morgantown’s Ariana Borneo took an immediate direct kick that went past everyone except Allen.

In the 68th minute, George Washington’s Shelby Tharp received a pass with a defender on his hip and a look toward the goal, and smoked a shot that bounced off the goal post.

In the 70th minute, Morgantown’s Navaeh Youst connected with a clean header off a Borneo cross that bounced off the crossbar.

Allen’s best play came in the 73rd minute where she stopped three shots, including two at close range, to keep Morgantown off the scoreboard.

This would be either team’s best chance for the remainder of regulation.

In the first overtime, Morgantown benefited from several penalties that set them up with direct kicks into the George Washington goal, but none resulted in a shot on goal. The Mohigans managed just one shot on goal in the first overtime period, recovered by Allen. George Washington had no shots on goal in overtime.

By this point, fatigue had set in for both teams, and both the Mohigans and Patriots were struggling to generate looks.

Allen made a game-saving catch three minutes from the end of the second overtime after a direct kick from the midfielder resulted in a header into a crowd gathered in front of the goal. It was his 11th save of the match. She had 13 in the match.

George Washington will face the winner of the No. 2 Parkersburg South and No. 3 Washington semifinals. This game was in progress at press time.

— Story by Nick Henthorn