WILLIAMSPORT - Southern Columbia entered the District 4 playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
And by the slimmest of margins, the Tigers stayed alive.
After decisively beating Muncy in two previous regular season games, Southern needed a goal by Seth Joseph off a free kick to win 1-0 over the Indians.
Southern will now play Benton on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
The credit for slowing Southern down goes equally to Muncy and the turf field at Loyalsock, but Southern was able to overcome both.
"The combination of the rain and the surface took us some time to adjust," Southern Columbia head coach Dave Hall said. "We were patient and disciplined and we eventually broke through with a beautiful finish by Seth to give us the goal we needed."
In the early going, it looked like it was anyone's game. Southern held just a 3-2 shot advantage after the first half and the Tigers' best opportunities - a well-placed cross in the 26th minute and a corner kick a minute later - yielded no shots.
"I think a lot of it was the conditions of the field," Hall said. "We hadn't played on turf all year. It's a different surface and the ball reacts differently. I thought our touches were a little off. I thought some of our passes were a little too hard. And we had trouble keeping possession mostly because of the field.
"I thought Muncy played a great game tonight. They had a great system and their back four were a little deeper and it forced us to make some runs, but the ball was just placed too far forward on our runs."
But Southern made the necessary adjustments at
halftime and used the time between halves to get a little work in on the turf while Muncy was resting on the side.
"At halftime I let them go out about five minutes early to let them try to get some of their touches back," Hall said. "We only had 10 minutes to warm up on it before the game."
The Tigers took the first opportunity they had to push the Indians in the second half. Senior Jacob Trathen drove through the Indians' defense and put a shot on goal just 17 seconds into the half. It was saved, but Southern kept attacking.
Finally, in the 49th minute, a free kick touched first by Tyler Keiser and drilled into the back of the net by Joseph gave Southern all it would need to advance.
"It's playoff soccer," Hall said. "We just wanted to get a win and keep playing."
Southern 0 1 - 1
Muncy 0 0 - 0
SC - Joseph (Keiser) 49:05
Shots - Southern Columbia 12, Muncy 4. Corner kicks - Southern Columbia 3, Muncy 0. Saves - Southern Columbia (Tomaschik) 2, Muncy (Stipcake) 6.