It was perhaps the most telling scene of the game.

East Union players dejectedly dropped to the turf at Dino Cunial Field in frustration after playing Central Catholic to a scoreless draw through 100 minutes of soccer — 80 in regulation, then two 10-minute overtime periods.

The visiting Raiders, meanwhile, spryly raced to their sideline with sheer joy.

“We did not want to go to PKs,” said East Union co-head coach Jim Todd.

Central Catholic clearly did.

After weathering a 20-3 disadvantage in shot attempts, the Raiders clinched a stunning first-round upset in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs by winning the penalty-kick shootout, 3-2. Ana Hernandez buried the final attempt.

Central Catholic (12-7-4) also won last Friday’s out-bracket game over Liberty Ranch in PKs and will face either Western Athletic Conference rival Patterson or Cosumnes Oaks in the semifinals on Thursday. The Patterson-Cosumnes Oaks game will take place tonight.

“We had some time to think about what we wanted to do and it worked,” said Central coach Dominic Figueroa. “It was very satisfying. Except for the first few minutes, we did what we wanted to do; we wanted to slow the pace down.

“They’re fast and have some very talented players, so we to just had to keep the ball in front of us and make stops when we had to.”

Making big stops for Central Catholic, the No. 3 team out of the WAC, was freshman goalkeeper Caitlyn Duval, the player of the match by a long shot. She came through with eight saves, and few were gimmies — especially not the three in overtime. Duval was tested early as well, as she slapped two attempts over the crossbar inside the game’s first 14 minutes.

“I was just hoping we could pull through to get to PKs,” Duval said. “They are the No. 1 team in our bracket, so we worked really hard with the game plan we drew up and I’m very happy with the results.”

As spectacular as she was in regulation and overtime, she got some help in the shootout from two of her closest friends — left post and right post. Two of East Union’s PK tries were deflected off the posts, and another was sent high.

“The pressure is immense,” Duval said. “Everyone is looking at you, and it’s you against a player. It’s very tough to determine which side (to protect) but today I guess the posts were on my side.”

Adrieanna Wood, East Union’s own freshman goalie, was hardly challenged in regulation. Central didn’t take its first shot until the 66th minute when Wood dove to block Lauren Nicholson’s attempt. Wood certainly did her part in the shootout by stuffing two of the Raiders’ PKs.

East Union had many chances to avoid overtime, even with its top scorer, Isela Rivera, marked by Central’s goal leader, Chloe Peepgrass, for most of the match.

Rivera nearly scored in the second minute on a follow-up from her sister Isabela’s initial shot. Duval bobbled the ball as Isela Rivera knocked it loose but drove her attempt into the left post. Both Riveras had good looks all game.

“We lost it in regulation because we felt like we outplayed them,” Todd said. “We had some opportunities that we just couldn’t connect.”

East Union (19-2-3) had high hopes going into the postseason after capturing its first Valley Oak League championship since 2001. The Lancers were favored to reach the section finals for the first time in school history.

“We’re proud of them,” Todd said. “It was a great season. It’s not easy to go undefeated (13-0-1) in the VOL, so they definitely played strong.”