ROCHESTER HILLS >> When senior Jenna Accetta had a penalty kick turned away midway through the first half of Tuesday’s D1 regional semifinal, it could have swung the momentum away from Dakota.

Instead, the Cougars looked invigorated before halftime, then hit swiftly for two goals early when play resumed, including the first by Accetta, and those proved the difference in Dakota’s 2-0 victory over Berkley at Rochester High School.

“After I missed the penalty kick, I’m like, ‘Alright, I really gotta make this up now,’ and the first thought was that I just have to go as hard as I can,” Accetta said. “I knew that (their girl had) a bad touch and that I was going to get onto it, and I just gave her everything, worked hard and got the ball in the net.”

The teams went into intermission scoreless after Dakota’s penalty was gobbled up by Bears senior netminder Avery Weingarden. Up to that point, Berkley had generated its share of set piece opportunities.

“I think we did a good job establishing a rhythm to our play,” Bears head coach Zach Hobson said. “We really controlled the middle third in the opening stages of the first half, but ultimately weren’t able to capitalize on any of the chances we created.”

As the opening 40 minutes came to a close, the run of play seemed to favor Dakota by its ability to string together short passes in the Bears’ final third. That work was rewarded just under five minutes into the second half when Accetta cut inward from the right and sliced a shot across her body that was slotted inside the post to the left of Weingarden, who was left with no chance of stopping it.

Pressure from Dakota (10-8) didn’t relent following the opener, and the Cougars added to their advantage on a goal by senior Sophia Mastonardi, making it 2-0 with 32:40 remaining.

“Towards the start of the first half, we were very flat and you could tell we didn’t have the energy,” Mastronardi said. “We kept ourselves up enough where there were no goals at the end of the first, but that (halftime) talk, we got to cool off a little bit, we knew come the second half, like, we need to move, we need to start going. Once Jenna scored that first one, we were like ‘let’s go, keep it up,’ and I think Jenna kind of set the tempo. I was fired up, and we kind of pressed them hard, and they didn’t see it coming.”

On his team’s ability to not let the penalty save flip the script, Dakota head coach Gary Schodowski said, “I said at halftime I think when we get the wind at our backside a little bit — because I didn’t realize how tough it was on them the first half — that if we pressure that back line, I think we can cause some turnovers, and that’s exactly what ended up happening.”

With its back against the wall, life remained in the tank of Berkley. Dakota avoided having its lead sliced in half about eight minutes after its second goal when a Berkley attempt was flicked off the post, then cleared off the line for a corner kick, though it didn’t end up biting the Cougars.

“We understood that they offered a lot of threat in attack,” Hobson said. “Their two forwards in particular, they did a good job of pressing us back into our own half and keeping us in the areas of the field where they wanted us, and ultimately we weren’t able to play ourselves out.”

The Bears, who defeated rival Royal Oak 2-0 for their district championship, finish the year 11-5-5. They’ll graduate seven starters from Tuesday’s defeat.

“It was just a little bit too little, too late for us,” Hobson said. “We put a lot into this spring, and I think it was evident today that we put everything we had into it and just ran out of gas.”

Dakota, who finished fourth in the MAC Red this season, will see its campaign march on to Friday night’s regional final against Troy Athens, who beat Utica Eisenhower in a shootout that followed the Cougars’ win.

“I think the MAC was really tough this year and there wasn’t a single game where it was going to be easy,” Accetta said. “Having every game be tough, it really prepares you that you can’t let up anytime. You have to go play three games a week, and even though we didn’t get the results we always wanted, it helped us be a better team together.”