West Forsyth’s girls nearly squandered a trip to the state championship game Tuesday — and then Nikki Erdely came to the rescue.

The senior swished a ball past goalie Kate Lowe 24 seconds into sudden death overtime, and the No. 2-ranked Lady Wolverines remained unbeaten with a hair-raising 13-12 victory over visiting Holy Innocents in the Class A-AAAA lacrosse state semifinals.

West (20-0) had lost a seven-goal lead in the second half to be forced into the overtime scenario.

“I didn’t think the ball went in, because [the goalkeeper] closed her legs and it went right through and [when I realized it went in] I threw my stick up and I ... started crying,” said Erdely, who is headed to Jacksonville University on scholarship.

For Wolverines coach Dan Kaplan, the game was a roller-coaster ride. He saw his team go from a seemingly unassailable 11-4 lead with 16 minutes left to fighting for its playoff life in the sudden death period.

“My heart can’t take another one like that, I tell you that. ... My brain is spinning so fast right now I don’t know really what to say,” Kaplan said.

The coach credited the Golden Bears (13-6) for fighting back and nearly ending his team’s season.

“Our defense always plays hard and for them to [score seven in a row]against our defense, thats a great job by them,” Kaplan said.

West emerged from halftime with a 9-4 advantage and tacked on two more goals in the opening minutes of the second half.

The Holy Innocents comeback started unassumingly, as Diane Bucher slipped her only goal of the game past Carly Haraka with 15:58 left.

But the visiting Bears were far from finished. They would continually control the draw as the half drew to a close, keeping the ball in their half of the field and eventually tying the game with 3:10 to play.

With all the momentum behind them, it appeared highly possible that the visitors — who had scored three goals in 88 seconds — might just put the game away in regulation.

But West had different ideas, and held the Bears off the board for the closing three minutes of regulation.

“We told them to hold their ground, be smart, play our game ... Nikki Erdely bleeds throughout the rest of our team — her spirit, her desire, everybody picks up on that, and I think Nikki went over and talked to the defenders and said ‘Let’s go, we got this,’” Kaplan said.

With the game tied at 11, the teams headed to an overtime split into two periods of three minutes each. That phase of the game was not sudden death.

As the first three-minute period wound down, Haley Holder picked off an attempt by Lowe to clear the ball and rushed in to score with four seconds left.

Arden Birdwell scored with 1:19 left in the second three-minute period, again tying the game.

Birdwell led all scorers with seven goals. Mackenzie Brehm scored three for the Bears.

That led to the sudden death period, setting the stage for Erdely.

“Nikki Erdely is the heart, she’s the character, she’s the strength of our team. ... She’s just ... a class act person, she’s a class player and I just love being around her and being able to be her coach,” Kaplan said.

Erdely ended up with four goals for West, while Taylor Hagin led the team with five. Holder scored three for the Wolverines.

In their third season, the Lady Wolverines are now one win away from a state championship.

West will travel to No. 1-ranked Westminster on Saturday to determine the state title. The Wildcats (20-1) advanced with a 13-5 win over Marist in the other state semifinal.

Erdely wasn’t sure who her team would face next right after Tuesday’s game, but she said the approach would be a loose one regardless

“The mindset is relax, have a good time. If we can beat 20 other teams, what’s one more team?” the senior said.