Last season the Moon Area girls' soccer team's lone blemish during the regular season was one loss ... this year its lone blemish was one goal.

The Tigers' 16-0-1 regular season was just as impressive as the fact that they found a way to improve from last season's 17-1 campaign.

Moon went through the entire 17-game regular season allowing only one goal, a shot off the post from a rebound in a 4-1 win against Montour. It went wire-to-wire this season from a preseason No. 1 ranking to the top overall seed heading into the WPIAL playoffs.

Moon opened the playoffs Tuesday with a 4-0 victory against Franklin Regional.

It opened the season by shutting out its first nine opponents before the Montour game. It closed the season by shutting out its last seven opponents. Strangely, neither shutout streak topped last year's 11-game shutout streak the Tigers strung together in the middle of the season.

To match that streak this season, Moon will have to advance to the WPIAL title game or the PIAA playoffs without surrendering another goal.

Neither occurred last season when the Tigers lost to Norwin, 1-0, in the quarterfinals. Moon and Norwin, a 3-0 winner against Belle Vernon Tuesday, will meet again at 2 p.m. Saturday at North Allegheny.

The seniors on the Moon squad have been there before. As freshmen they were part of a team that reached the WPIAL and PIAA title games.

"This team is not taking anything for granted," Moon coach Bill Pfeifer said. "They are training just as hard now and pushing each other. They have been there before and they know what it is all about. It is one-and-done now. They want to get better and they are peaking at the right time."

Peaking at the right time is an understatement. Since allowing the one goal to Montour in late September, Moon has scored 45 unanswered goals.

Going an entire regular season without allowing a goal was an aim of the team but Pfeifer was not exactly devastated when the first ball of the season got behind his goalie, Mara Hricik. With the possibility of a defensively perfect regular season gone, Pfeifer was able to rest some of his starters late in games rather than try to keep the shutout streak alive.

"To be honest, yeah I was relieved," Pfeifer said of the Montour goal.

"It has allowed us to do a couple different things. There have been times when we have been able to pull kids [make substitutions in one-sided games]. Do you want the first goal you give up to be in the playoffs? How would the team handle that? Now we got the monkey off our back."

Hricik in net and Angela DeBlassio, a senior center back, were also part of last season's strong defensive unit. Both have played key roles in 31shutouts over the past two seasons. In her career Hricik has registered 54 shutouts.

"People say she doesn't see that many shots but she has worked her butt off," Pfeifer said.

"Mara has the best foot skills of any keeper in the WPIAL. We use her a lot coming through the back to retain possession. The kids have a lot of confidence in her."

Senior Dana Magnelli would have been a part of that defense as well but she sustained a torn ACL and missed the majority of the regular season. Another senior, Paige Petroval, moved up to play midfield this season after starting on defense last year.

Junior Jordan Belsky sees time on defense as does freshman Marissa Clough, who earned a starting spot this year. Considering the strength of the defense last year, it was no easy feat for a freshman to crack the starting lineup.

"She won the job this year, she worked hard in the offseason," Pfeifer said.

"She understands the game, she understands the positioning and she has good speed."

The Moon offense sometimes gets overlooked because of the defense and because there is no 30-goal scorer. Senior Jordan Calabria leads the team with 19. Junior Alexis Thomas has come back from an ACL tear last season to score 15. Freshman Antonia Grese also has 15.

Belsky and last year's PG West Player of the Year, Caroline Keefer, each have scored eight goals and Petroval has scored six. Sixteen different players have scored goals this season and only two players recorded hat tricks.

About the only thing more spread out than the Tigers' scoring statistics is the gaps between their opponents' goals.

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.