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NORTHVILLE - It was an upset in the making, there for the taking for Fort Ann.

The top-seeded Northville girls had their hands full Saturday with No. 8 Fort Ann in the first 20 minutes, watching the Lady Cards run through their attacking third and set up scoring opportunities. In the next 20 minutes, the Lady Falcons stopped watching and started attacking the ball, recovering to win 4-1 in the Section II Class D quarterfinals.

"We knew they were going to come out hard on us because they really want to beat us," Northville's Francesca Robinson said. "We weren't really on our game. We thought we'd come into this game and beat them, but they really caught us off guard."

The Northville girls were a step slow in the back, leaving running room for the Lady Cardinals. Freshman Kara White took advantage often, helping set up the attack throughout the game and assisting on Fort Ann's lone goal.

White got past her marker on the right side and sent a pass across the 6-yard box, past a few Northville defenders to Kaleigh Foran at the far post for the finish and a 1-0 lead 3:25 into the game.

"I thought our girls played very well," Fort Ann coach Tim Gleason said. "We had a couple opportunities to finish in the first half. We finished early on one and had, I think, two other really good chances in the first half. I think if we could have scored two goals, it could have changed the game. Then we ran out of gas at the end."

The Lady Cards were able to move into the penalty area with regularity both with speed and with long throws to space by Kayla Bancroft.

Northville tied the game when Allison Wadsworth took a corner kick from the right side and placed it at the top of the 6-yard box. Alicia Ellsworth came flying in at the near side of the box, but was just late and just low of the ball. Her run, however, froze Fort Ann goalkeeper Alli Clark and the ball skipped past to Robinson at the far side for the finish with 18:37 left before the break.

Murphy said it was important to get on the board before Fort Ann built too big of a lead.

"It's very hard to get back from even a 2-0 deficit," she said. "I was worried about that. I had to pull out my strikers and talk to them, then get them back in. Once I did that, they turned it around a little bit."

White had a chance to put the Lady Cards back on top with 14 minutes to play in the half when Foran stole the ball at midfield and sent it ahead to set up a 1-v-1, but White's shot from the left side slid just wide right.

The Lady Falcons also missed a couple opportunities set up by quick give-and-go passes at the top of the 18-yard box. In the second half, they used those combinations to set up more attacks.

"We've been working on our passing a lot during practice, on through balls and stuff," Robinson said. "We're finally getting the hang of it and it's starting to work."

The Northville attack set up seven second-half corner kicks. The Lady Falcons had nine on the game to Fort Ann's eight.

The improved aggression of the Lady Falcons extended to their defense, as well. They started challenging for the ball instead of waiting and watching, thanks to a few words from Murphy at halftime.

"[It took me] talking to them and explaining, 'Do you want to go home or do we want to play some more?'" Murphy said. "[It took me] pretty much yelling them, 'You've got to pick it up and you've got to stay on your girl.'"

One of the first few second-half opportunities for the Lady Falcons came on a pass from Savannah Hook, who slipped the ball ahead for Robinson. Clark came off her line to collect the ball, but Robinson was quicker to the ball. A sliding Clark got a piece of Robinson's first touch, but she couldn't control the ball and Robinson kept her feet and tracked down the ball to finish for a 2-1 lead just 3:39 into the half.

Ellsworth gave the Lady Falcons all the insurance they needed with two second-half goals. Her first game with 18 minutes to play. She took a long pass from Madalyn Ryan on the right side above the 18-yard box and carried the ball about 15 yards before finishing to the far side. Her second goal came with 1:20 left to play. She stole the ball from Taylor Jordan on the right side and went right at the goal with two teammates trailing the play from the top of the box, setting up a 3-v-1. Ellsworth took it herself for an unassisted score.

Clark came up big for Fort Ann (4-8-3 overall) several times, but had her hands full with the Northville attack generating close shots. She saved a penalty kick with 37:48 to play to keep the game tied after a handball in the penalty area and made 13 saves in the game. Northville keeper Alex Sheils made six saves for the Lady Falcons (6-11-0 overall).

Northville will play Tuesday in the semifinals against No. 4 Sharon Springs (7-10-0 overall) at Broadalbin-Perth at 3 p.m.