But in the blink of an eye, the result turned into another heartbreaking defeat just one step short of the state Final Four.

Wheatland-Chili scored three unanswered goals after an extremely early 2-0 Red Dragons’ lead and advanced to next Saturday’s state semifinals at Cortland High School with a 3-2 victory at Webster-Thomas High School.

“Words can’t describe this,” Wildcats junior captain Lindsey Clar said. “It’s an unbelievable accomplishment for our team.”

Sophomore Niyah Rosado, who entered the game as the Wildcats’ leading scorer with 30 goals on the season, scored all three goals yesterday, including the eventual game-winner with 26:48 remaining.

Maple Grove’s Marisa Schuppenhauer (19) looks to settle the ball at midfield.

“We needed our leaders to lead. Niyah has been blanketed all year and she’s pretty used to it,” Wheatland-Chili coach Gary Ward said. “She managed to get in there a couple of times today. … She’s hard to stop.”

Clar, who entered with a team-high 16 assists, tallied a helper on all three of Rosado’s goals.

“She’s relentless,” Ward said of Clar. “Besides having great skills and knowing the game … I’ve never had a girl with more stamina and more determination. … She has everything.”

Maple Grove’s stars also stepped up to the big stage with senior captain Clare Crossley scoring her 27th goal of the season and fellow senior captain Chloe Kibbe registering her 14th.

“You have to give Clare and Chloe a lot of credit. Sammy Davis played amazing,” Maple Grove coach Mike Burr said. ” … (Wheatland-Chili) was very hard to mark. We just kind of lost track of their players.”

Maple Grove’s Morgan Plymel (13) and Wheatland-Chili’s Lindsey Clar (1) battle for the ball during Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class C Far West Regional at Webster Thomas High School.

The Red Dragons were awarded a free kick just 1:30 into the game when Wheatland-Chili was whistled for a hand ball. Crossley lined up her shot from the sideline around 27 yards out and beat Wildcats keeper Janae Hooker high into the right corner of the net.

Just 47 seconds later, Kibbe took a pass from senior captain Morgan Plymel, split two Wildcats defenders inside the 18-yard box and took a shot that just got over the outstretched hands of Hooker for a 2-0 lead.

“We were going against the wind in the first half and got two goals,” Burr said. “I really thought it was going to be a different outcome.”

The Red Dragons nearly made it 3-0 with 22:45 to go in the first half when junior Sydney Greiner beat a sprawling Hooker inside the 6-yard box, but Greiner was ruled offside by a couple of feet.

Just over a minute later, Wheatland-Chili got back in the game as Clar slid a pass to Rosado around 15 yards away from the Maple Grove goal. Rosado cut back to her right and beat Red Dragons keeper Kasie Craig with a shot into the left side of the net to make it 2-1.

Maple Grove’s Chloe Kibbe dribbles towards the goal.

“We’ve really talked about resilience and perseverance. … They didn’t panic,” Ward said. ” … It’s a pretty special team that can do that. Not many teams come back from a 2-0 deficit.”

After halftime, the Wildcats began to roll.

Rosado split a pair of defenders less than three minutes in, but elected to pass instead of shoot. Nine minutes later, she did not make that mistake as she took another pass from Clar, broke in on Craig and beat her with a left-footed shot that glanced off the diving keeper’s hands before finding the corner of the goal.

“I know I can count on her to get the ball to me,” Rosado said of Clar. ” … I just need to make sure I’m in a space with no defenders.”

With the score tied, Wheatland-Chili did not let up. Just 1:42 later, Clar sent a soft touch into the 6-yard box that Rosado got a foot on before Craig could cover it. The ball rolled slowly toward the goal line, and was nearly stopped by a Maple Grove defender, but had just enough on it to make it into the net.

“We had the lead and we broke down. We didn’t discipline ourselves like we did in the first half,” Burr said. “We had the perfect game plan … you can’t have breakdowns in a championship game.”

Now trailing 3-2, the Red Dragons tried desperately to even the score. Their best chance came with 18:30 remaining when they were awarded a free kick just outside the 18-yard box. Crossley, whose goal early in the game was the 100th of her career, elected to pass into the 6-yard box instead of shooting and the ball rolled out of bounds.

“She knew as soon as she played that that she really should’ve probably shot the ball,” Burr said. ” … We practice what she was trying to do and that’s what she saw. I just have to go with it.”

With 1:20 left, Plymel’s chip from about 11 yards out went just high over Hooker by about 1 or 2 feet.

As time ran out, Maple Grove — including its seven seniors — gathered around Burr while the Wildcats celebrated their fourth straight trip to the state Final Four.

“We really thought it was this year,” Burr said of the Red Dragons making a trip to states. ” … We couldn’t have started out any better than we did and we just let it slip away.”

NOTES: Wheatland-Chili lost the Class D final before winning in 2016 and 2017. … In other Saturday regionals: Clarence beat Webster-Schroeder, 3-2, in overtime in Class AA; Spencerport defeated Amherst, 3-0, in Class A; Allegany-Limestone beat Pal-Mac, 1-0, in Class B; and Kendall defeated North Collins, 1-0, in Class D.