An early clearing shot that made a beeline for the goal and over the keeper’s head was the one lucky break that separated the perfect from the near perfect Saturday afternoon.

In a state tournament quarterfinal game played on a wet field in Camas, the Falcon girls continued their dead run at a state title by beating a team from Ridgefield High School 1-0 on a lucky long shot no one expected to make it into the net.

Matched against perhaps the best team they’ve seen all season, the now 20-0 South Whidbey girls technically won the game 10 minutes in when sophomore defender Rita Jones boomed a 40-yard clearing shot from near midfield, which took a big bounce over the head of Ridgefield’s goalkeeper.

“I was just trying to clear it up,” said a still surprised Jones this week, describing the shot that was credited as her first goal the season.

Senior forward Claudia Gil-Osorio was in was in the vicinity of the goal at the time of the score, but South Whidbey’s coaches were not sure whether she touched the ball.

Over the next 70 minutes, however, the goal itself receded in importance in terms of winning the game as South Whidbey’s defenders and midfielders took on the job of protecting the only score Ridgefield would allow. According to Falcon coach Paul Arand, both teams were closely match in terms of their ability to pass and move the ball, which forced the Falcons to run hard to break up multiple-touch plays as soon as they got started.

Katie Watson, a sophomore midfielder for the Falcons, was there for most of those starts. She said she admired her opponents for what they could do with the ball, but was certain her team had the advantage.

“I didn’t feel any heart from them, only skill,” she said.

That heart, said coach Arand, centered around Watson and freshman midfielder Kelsey Kimmel, as the two worked fast plays on a speedy artificial turf field. Arand said he was pleased to see zip in their legs after a six-hour bus trip to Camas. Ridgefield drove just 30 minutes to the field.

Behind the midfield, the Falcon defense also had a lot of work to do. Arand pointed to senior Lena Ishii as the standout player in the backfield, but also gave credit to her co-defenders for limiting Ridgefield to just four solid shots on the South Whidbey goal. He said the defense held up particularly well during the game’s final 10 minutes, when Ridgefield went into a “frantic” attack mode.

“They really stopped the attack,” he said.

Also doing perfect work was Falcon goalkeeper Allyson Riggs, who was most challenged by a hard, low shot in the second half that required a diving save.

At the other end of the field, the Falcons took about a dozen shots on goal. One point-blank shot by senior Anna Gilles went over the goal while another, by sophomore striker Jenna Wild, was snared by Ridgefield’s goalkeeper.

The Falcons are now set to play Eatonville in a semifinal game at 10 a.m. Friday at Lakewood Stadium near Tacoma. The winner of that contest goes onto the state championship game Saturday against the winner of a Cashmere-Connell.

The losers of the two games will play for third place.