If ever the youthful Seneca Valley girls' soccer team was going to show its age, this would be the spot.

With the WPIAL title on the line and penalty kicks dragging on to a seventh round, Seneca Valley freshman midfielder Morgan Williams lined up to take a shot.

In a move that defined the entire season, the freshman did not act her age. She drilled the shot past Peters Township goalkeeper Megan Junker and into the net, the first penalty kick of her career. After a Peters Township miss, the Raiders captured the WPIAL Class AAA title, their second in three years.

"To have a young lady like that step up in a pressure situation and set it down and hit it, that pretty much sums up the season," Seneca Valley coach Dave Sylvester said.

Senior captain Kate Kelly, the top player on the Raiders this season, knew firsthand what Williams was going through when she lined up for the shot. As a freshman, Kelly was the seventh shooter against Mt. Lebanon in the playoffs. She missed her shot and Seneca Valley's playoff run ended.

"I was a freshman, too, but I missed mine," Kelly recalled. "It was identical to this year. We needed someone to step up and do it and it was not about age. This year, no one really looks at age, we just look at talent. These freshmen who start -- they are probably some of the best players I have seen."

Williams was one of four freshmen who started along with three sophomores. From the season-opening 3-0 win against Center to the 2-1 win against Peters Township in the WPIAL title game Saturday at Elizabeth Forward, Sylvester's team did not show its youth.

The Raiders will need a continued all-round effort to keep its season alive in the PIAA playoffs. They got that Tuesday, routing another WPIAL team, Southmoreland, 7-0, in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs. The Raider will play Norwin at w1 p.m. Saturday at North Allegheny.

"I was always waiting for some youthful mistakes to pop up and the game not go the way we were hoping," Sylvester said.

"We had little mistakes here and there, but as far as major mistakes, they never really happened."

In the playoffs Seneca Valley shut out Thomas Jefferson, 5-0, in the first round and Southmoreland, 2-0, in the quarterfinals. It rallied from a 1-0 deficit to upend Canon-McMillan, 2-1, in the semifinals to set up a rematch against Peters Township, who had eliminated the Raiders in the WPIAL quarterfinals last season.

The 2007 team that Sylvester guided to the WPIAL title was also a younger team, but it relied mostly on juniors rather than freshmen and sophomores.

"The first title is always special and that was a good bunch of kids," Sylvester said of the 2007 team. "This is definitely more of a surprise. It has been fun and it was very unexpected. The girls like each other and they enjoy playing soccer. They don't care who scores as long as it gets done."

And throughout the season it has been a different player stepping up and getting it done each week.

Trailing, 1-0, to Canon-McMillan, sophomore Kate Riley tied the game and freshman center midfielder Misha Demchuk won the game in the second overtime.

Then it was Kelly tying the game against Peters Township to force the overtime and Williams drilling the deciding penalty kick.

In the regular season it was Mandy Cerminara leading the team in scoring. Defensively junior goalie Kiara Lydon continued to improve, now in her third consecutive year as the starting keeper.

"We had a different top player every game," Sylvester said.

"Everybody knows that Kate Kelly is a player whom you have to watch out for. She gives the ball off a lot and the result is that Mandy Cerminara has been the leading scorer. We have players all around and up top who can put the ball away. And the kids in the back have defended very well."

Seneca Valley's Kate Riley, left, battles Melissa McKellar of North Hills for the ball in a game earlier this season at Seneca Valley High School.

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