HERSHEY - For 38 minutes, Southern Columbia hung with Trinity in their Class A state playoff first-round game Tuesday at Hersheypark Stadium.
The Tigers did that, despite playing in their own end for most of the first half.
Then the inevitable happened and the Shamrocks took a one-goal lead. Twenty minutes of play and two goals later, the floodgates opened for Trinity.
The end result was a 5-0 win for the Shamrocks and an end to the Tigers' girls soccer season.
Southern Columbia held the Shamrocks off the board for some time, but with 1:36 left in the first half, Theresa Durle scored for Trinity after Brenna Finegan sent a free kick into the 18 box.
"We played great team defense," Southern Columbia coach Derek Stine said. "The goal was trying to hold them to a 0-0 tie at halftime."
That goal wasn't reached and Trinity followed the momentum of the late first-half goal into the second half.
It took 10 minutes for Trinity to get its second goal, this one from Ashley Rogliano on a scrum in front of the net.
Eight minutes later, Savannah Schultz stopped a clearance attempt from the Southern defense and beat Tigers goalkeeper Blair Johnston to the left side of the net from outside the 18 box.
For 18 minutes, the game settled into a back-and-forth contest with Southern Columbia's offense trying for stretch passes to beat the Shamrocks' defense with speed, rather than physicality.
"It wasn't the game plan," Stine said, "it just kind of went that way."
Trinity scored two more goals in the final five minutes - one on a free kick and another on a penalty kick.
The Tigers gave up five goals Tuesday, but Stine believes goalkeeper Johnston was a big part of the success Southern had this season.
"Blair's done an outstanding job," Stine said. "When we got through that five-game slump, a lot of that was due to her."
The berth into the state playoffs was the second in a row for the Tigers, coming a year after losing a handful of starters and enduring a five-game losing streak in the middle of the season.
Even though Southern Columbia was knocked out of the playoffs, Stine believes his team played strong.
"The girls played a great game," Stine said. "It meant a lot."
Southern 0 0 - 0
Trinity 1 4 - 5
T - Theresa Durle (UA) 38:24
T - Ashley Rogliano (Durle) 50:34
T - Savannah Schultz (UA) 58:23
T - Brienna Finegan (UA) 74:44
T - Schultz (PK) 79:29
Shots - Southern Columbia 1, Trinity 14. Corner kicks - Southern Columbia 0, Trinity 4. Saves - Southern Columbia (Blair Johnston) 8, Trinity (Amanda Knaub) 1.