Photo by Hunter Wilson/Daily NewsGreenwood coach Amy Helliwell (left) consoles Lady Gator senior Heather Price after Greenwood’s 6-0 loss to No. 1 Sacred Heart on Wednesday in the semifinals of the KHSAA Girls’ State Soccer Final Four at Toyota Stadium in Georgetown.Click here for more Lady Gator photos.

GEORGETOWN — The Greenwood Lady Gators carried departing coach Amy Helliwell to a place they’d taken her five times before.

And for the sixth and final time under Helliwell, Greenwood’s season ended one step short of playing for a state soccer championship.

Junior midfielder Nikki Hafele scored two goals for top-ranked and defending state champion Sacred Heart of Louisville on Wednesday at Toyota Stadium, pushing the Valkyries to a 6-0 victory over No. 8 Greenwood in a severely delayed semifinal at the KHSAA State Final Four.

The outcome was hardly in doubt after Sacred Heart (20-1-3) surged to a 3-0 halftime lead. But Greenwood’s emotions spilled as time expired after midnight EST this morning – especially for the Lady Gators’ six seniors and for Helliwell, who announced in the summer that this season would be her last at Greenwood.

Helliwell, whose 207 career victories in 12 seasons at Greenwood is third all-time among Kentucky’s girls’ soccer coaches, is moving soon to Terre Haute, Ind., where her husband, Sean, is head men’s soccer coach at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology.

“It’s been an amazing year,” Helliwell said, choking back tears. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls to go this far. They laid it all on the line, they gave it everything they had. They didn’t have a great showing tonight, but this is a great group of girls. I’m really going to miss them.”

It was the second trip to the Final Four for Greenwood’s seniors – Ariel Jones, Lauren Lamb, Shelby Billingsley, Krista Carter, Jennifer Wetzel and Heather Price – who last reached the semifinals in 2005 to cap a five-year streak of appearances. Senior midfielder Jones, who was forced to miss the entire postseason with a torn MCL, said it’s easy to celebrate the Lady Gators’ achievement, despite the immediate disappointment.

“We had a great run …,” Jones said. “We worked really hard and everybody wanted it in coach’s last season. All the seniors knew what it felt like to go to the Final Four and wanted to go back, and we all had in our hearts the will to come back, I guess.”

The game, which was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. EST, was delayed 2 1/2 hours after Highlands – which defeated Woodford County 1-0 in Wednesday’s first semifinal – got stuck in a traffic jam due to an accident on Interstate 75 and was late to arrive at Toyota Stadium.

That forced the Lady Gators (19-4-3) to while away a few extra hours at the team hotel, but Helliwell shrugged off the significance of what became a 10:34 p.m. EST start time.

“I could blame it on that, but they had to wait just as long. Now, they didn’t have to come from three hours away, the time difference. But I thought we came out pretty strong … I think (we) were just a little bit intimidated.”

Sacred Heart, which is yet to lose to a Kentucky opponent this season, jumped on Greenwood first in the 12th minute, when Hafele left-footed a 10-yard score for a 1-0 lead.

Hafele added her second goal 16 minutes later, when her shot in the box slid off the outstretched hands of senior goalkeeper Wetzel. Freshman midfielder Andrea Distler made it 3-0 in the 36th minute, when she bent a corner kick from the right side past Wetzel.

Hafele has been a reliable scorer for the Valkyries and Sacred Heart coach Chris Moore said he sensed she was in for a big night against the Lady Gators.

“She’s been fantastic all year, and as the postseason’s gone on, she just keeps raising the bar,” Moore said. “She’s really stepped up. It’s funny, the coaches were watching during the warmup … and she’s hitting these balls and you could just tell she was going to do something tonight.”

Greenwood, meanwhile, went into the break trailing 8-1 in total shots and searching for a second-half spark.

“A 3-0 lead is a tough lead to come back from, but I told the girls in the locker room, ‘You know, they got three goals in the first half, that doesn’t mean we can’t (in the second),’ ” Helliwell said. “Mentally (we) were prepared to come out and fight the second half. And then whenever they got that fourth and fifth goal, you could see the wind get taken out of our sails.”

The fourth goal came courtesy of junior midfielder Jackie Hafele, who booted in a point-blank score off a rebound in the 47th minute. Sacred Heart’s fifth goal in the 49th minute was officially credited to Distler on another corner kick, although Distler’s ball was clearly touched by another Valkyrie in front of the goal. Sacred Heart scorekeepers gave the goal to sophomore midfielder Jenna Price.

Sacred Heart set the final tally in the 53rd minute, when freshman midfielder Sara Herbert scored off a ball deflected by Wetzel.

Click here for Lady Gator photos.

The Lady Gators’ postgame huddle was a solemn gathering. Coach and players not only put a memorable season to rest, but also experienced their final on-field moments together.

“(Helliwell’s) like another parent to me,” Jones said. “I’m going to miss her a lot. She was always there for us, always there for me when I needed her. I’m very thankful to have her as my coach.”

Lamb, a defender, and junior forward Chelsea Johnson were named to the Final Four All-Tournament team from Greenwood.

Sacred Heart meets Highlands (21-3-1) in the state title game at 5 p.m. CST Saturday.