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Three out of three ain’t bad

Central beats BEA again, makes semifinals

For the Mirror

The Central High School girls soccer team completed a hat trick Thursday night.

After winning a pair of  regular-season matchups with Bald Eagle Area, the Lady Dragons posted a 3-0 shutout over the Lady Eagles in a District 6 2A quarterfinal test at Mansion Park.

The win moved Central (18-1) to the 2A semifinals against Juniata at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Mansion Park.

“We just tried to keep the team focused,” said Central coach Brian Campbell. “Even though we had beaten them twice, it doesn’t mean you’re going to get them a third time.

“We approached it like it was another team we hadn’t played before.”

As it has done all season, Central scored quickly and then let its ballhandling skills take over.

Junior midfielder Cassie Mock buried a shot from the right corner to the back of the net at the 30:26 mark of the first half.

About 10 minutes later,  freshman forward Kaitlyn Laird scored on a rebound from a Olivia Smith shot to give the Dragons a 2-0 advantage.

“We like to jump on every team for an early lead,” Campbell said. “We’re fortunate enough to have a great group of girls, with a lot of talent, and once we get the lead, we can play possession soccer and try to capitalize on the other team’s mistakes.

“Sometimes we get out of the gameplan,” Campbell offered. “Tonight, in the first half, I thought we stuck to gameplan great. The second half it was about 50-50.”

Central’s defense held BEA in check most of the night, seldom permitting the Eagles to cross midfield.

“We talked at halftime about not letting them get a quality shot,” Campbell said, “and I think we did pretty good.”

“The last time we played these guys (a 2-0 loss), we played them with five defenders in the back,” BEA coach Jared Moore said. “Tonight, we thought we’d change it up a bit and go a little more on the attack mode.

“That clearly didn’t work,” Moore said, laughing.

Sophomore forward Ashley Negley took a pass from Mock and pushed one in from close range early in the second half (38:36) to hike the Central margin to 3-0.

“I was afraid of us being too pumped up and overly aggressive tonight,” Campbell said. “We wanted to keep it business as usual.”

“They’re great,” Moore said of Central. “It’s the third time we’ve played them, and I think we get better each time, but they’re fantastic and should be district champions.

“They have three 25-goal scorers on their team and will be good for years,” Moore added. “We’ll try to give them another run next year.”

Looking ahead to the semis against Juniata, Campbell said: “I think we’ll be fine as long as we don’t let them dictate the tempo.”

Central has lost only to Baldwin of the Pittsburgh area in the Altoona Tournament early in the season.

SCORE BY HALVES

Bald Eagle Area    0  0 — 0

Central      2  0 — 3

First half: C–Mock (unassisted), 30:26; C–Laird (Smith), 19:41.

Second half: C–Negley (Mock), 38:36.

Records: Bald Eagle Area (9-11-1); Central (18-1).

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