HUGHESVILLE -- Selinsgrove's seniors were running out of time, which might explain why Courtney Matrey was in such a hurry to get going Thursday night.
Matrey scored in the second minute of the District 4 Class AAA final, and that goal stood up as Selinsgrove blanked Danville 1-0 at Raymond H. Perritt Stadium.
"I'm really happy for our senior class," Seals coach Matt Metzger said. "One of the things that we did is challenge our seniors ... and told them that this was going to be the first class of girls from Selinsgrove that could graduate and not be a champion, not a league champion or a district champion. And they didn't want that."
"This was our goal," added Matrey, a senior forward. "We've overcome so much as a team that we knew this was our year."
Selinsgrove (15-2-3), seeded second in the tournament, will now face District 6 champion State College in the first round of states Tuesday. The site will be somewhere in District 4, and will be announced Sunday along with the time.
"It's going to be a great experience," Metzger said. "We're going to go out and face State College. We've seen them before. We know what style of play to expect."
The win gives the Seals four District 4 championships, all under Metzger, who started the program. Selinsgrove's last district crown came in 2005, when the current crop of seniors were in eighth grade.
"Every year we always come close," said senior forward Kelsey Fisher. "This year, we wanted to come out and prove to people and ourselves that we could do it."
Danville, the fourth seed, was playing in the 11th district final in program history. The Ironmen are now 6-5 in D-4 title games.
Danville beat Athens 5-0 in a play-in game last week and then stunned top-seeded and defending champion Milton in the semifinals Monday.
"These girls were hungry," Danville coach Tom Craig said. "They really wanted to take this one to the bank and ... show that the reason we beat Milton wasn't a fluke."
Kelsey Fisher crossed the ball into the box from the right wing in the second minute. A Danville defender tried to clear it, but it came right to Matrey, who hit a high shot from outside the six-yard box that curled under the crossbar and into the net.
"All week in practice, the coaches have been saying to get a toe or anything on it," Matrey said. "When that ball came across, I just knew I had to get something on it. ... Kelsey and I have this thing: Once I see her cross it, I just go for it."
The Ironmen had their chances to equalize. In the sixth minute, Siobhan Bross put in a cross that skated dangerously across the goal mouth, but Kiersten Zerbe couldn't quite catch up to it.
In the 30th minute, Bross blasted a hard shot that Seals keeper Cameron Weaver stopped for one of her four saves; but the ball squirted out, and the Ironmen's Maddy Moser was charging hard before Weaver grabbed it again.
As the second half wore on, the Seals continued to put pressure on. Jenna Fisher went wide left on a good ball from her sister Kelsey in the 54th minute, and then Jenna Fisher had a header go wide left in the 59th minute.
"We wanted to keep attacking," Metzger said. "We wanted to keep going and not have the ball down in our end the whole time. We wanted to put players forward and get some chances."
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