BROCKWAY — This time around, a second-half rally never came to fruition.

A game after three second-half goals lifted Port Allegany past Elk Catholic in the quarterfinals, Port Allegany’s playmakers were kept bottled up from start to finish as the Lady Gators were knocked out of the District 9 Class A postseason by Brockway, 4-1.

Port (8-7-1) had a handful of runs that presented opportunities, but the attacks that yielded a comeback in the quarterfinals were kept fruitless in the semifinal matchup at Varischetti Field on Wednesday.

The Lady Rovers, meanwhile, had plenty of opportunities, particularly on a handful of breakaways, but Port managed to stymie most of those until three second-half goals put the game away. In all Brockway, outshot the Lady Gators, 29-15.

Port coach Tony Edgell pointed to the Lady Gators’ inability to control the middle of the field as the cause of his team’s downfall.

“As far as I was concerned, it wasn’t what (Brockway’s) defense was doing. We just didn’t control the middle,” he said. “We were not making the right passes. When we needed to pass short, we passed long; when we needed to pass long, we passed short. We had the runs; we just couldn’t break through.”

Just as it was in the quarterfinal match with ECC, Port fell behind 1-0 after the first half. Brockway quickly grabbed the lead, as Paris Stern scored on a high-arcing shot from 25 yards out to put the Lady Rovers up just three minutes into the game.

From there, Port managed to stay in the mix. Brockway had a few breakaway opportunities throughout the half, but the shots either went wide or were saved by goalkeeper Jennifer Baxter to bring the halftime score to 1-0.

In the second half, however, Port wasn’t able to stop Brockway’s runs from producing. Amanda Decker extended the Lady Rovers’ lead to 2-0 at the 36:16 mark after a bad touch from a defender gave her a second chance in the box. Decker scored from almost along the backline, and drilled the ball into the right side of the netting.

Throughout the half, Brockway managed to retain possession for the most part, which aided in keeping Port’s speedy forwards from finding any potent chances.

In the meantime, Baxter made a handful of saves to keep Port still in the mix. She finished the night with 10 saves.

“(Baxter) played outstanding. She was exceptional,” Edgell said. “She did what she needed to do in the way she needed to do it. I’m looking forward to working with her and Brielle Budd, our other keeper, this summer so they keep getting better.”

But eventually Brockway broke through to put the game away. Danielle Wood tallied off a cross from Stern to push the lead to 3-0 with just under 20 minutes to play, and then Decker struck again 10 minutes later off an assist from Lily Sysko.

“They’re a good team. There’s no doubt about it,” Edgell said of Brockway. “They’re good. We look forward to playing them next year… Kudos to them. They outplayed us, and we’re looking forward to playing them next year.”

Bree Garzel notched Port’s only goal of the game just before time ran out, a shot that came from about 24 yards out.

Garzel is one of just three seniors leaving the team heading into next season — the others being Sydney Davenport and Gracie Archer — which gives Edgell plenty of optimism heading into the offseason.

“We’re a young team. We have a lot of sophomores on the field, so we’re only going to get stronger,” he said. “Our leading goal scorers are sophomores, and my defense is mostly sophomores. We’re looking good next year, and we expect to be very strong.”

Edgell also expressed gratitude to simply be able to play in 2020 after such an uncertain offseason. At some points, it didn’t appear the team would take the pitch at all.

“We weren’t even sure we’d have a season, and then we didn’t think we would have playoffs,” he said. “We got to have those, and the playoffs were a bonus. I told the girls this year to play as though it’s your last game, because you just don’t know.”

He concluded, “I think this was the second time we’ve ever been to the semifinals in our program’s history. I’m very proud of the girls, and we’re looking forward to next year and going even further.”