High School Soccer

Altoona beaten by familiar foe

D6-10 girls soccer

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The Altoona girls soccer program has produced some good teams over the past three years.

From setting the school record in wins, to having a 100-career goal scorer, to winning district titles, and many other accomplishments.

Each of the last two years, one team has stood in the way of the Lady Lions advancing past the subregional round of the PIAA state playoffs

That team -- Erie McDowell.

During Saturday's District 6-10 Class 4A subregional, Altoona gave it everything it had, but was again denied by McDowell, which scored two second-half goals in a 2-0 victory at Hollidaysburg's Tiger Stadium.

"They (McDowell) play in that 3-4-3 (formation), and it's a way different look from anything we see all year," Altoona coach Derek Winterburn said. "Every once in a while, you'll see a 3-5-2, but the majority of the time you're playing against a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3. It's such a different look that sometimes we take that extra half second to make a decision."

The loss ended Altoona's season at 15-5-0, while McDowell improved to 18-2-0 and advanced to Tuesday night's PIAA first round playoff match against Seneca Valley.

"We knew coming in that Altoona's a great team. We knew that we were going to have to make adjustments to our lineup to counteract what they were going to try to do," McDowell coach Jason Perkins said. "We came down and watched them on Wednesday. So, we came out very different -- we had a couple of girls who were injured earlier in the week, so it was a lot of different things kind of adapting to the way that they play. I think our adjustments ended up working out."

For the first 54 minutes and 10 seconds, Altoona held the Erie squad scoreless. And, despite several good chances, the Lady Lions weren't able to find the back of the net either.

In the second half, Altoona missed a through ball opportunity that rolled into the arms of McDowell goalkeeper Olivia Whatmore. She punted the ball across midfield where it escaped every player on a high bounce before Lady Lion defender Abigail Herncane tried to knock it out of the air.

Charging past Herncane was Trojan Samantha Faulkner, who settled the ball, and then passed over to Grace Emanuel who made a run down about 10 yards to the right of Faulkner.

Emanuel took one dribble, eluded an Altoona defender and then fired a shot from about 20 yards out that went over the head of Lady Lion keeper Quinn DeAntonio and struck the inside middle section of the crossbar.

Faulkner continued crashing after making the pass and she was able to control the deflect off the bar, and tap the ball into the net from about 6 yards away.

"That (crashing the net) is something we've talked about all season long," Perkins said. "It doesn't always happen that way. But when it does, it's nice."

Altoona didn't roll over as it got its best chance of the second half just three minutes later when Lauren Kiser played a through ball on the left side to a sprinting Hailey Kravetz, who settled on the run and looked up to see Whatmore racing out.

With her left foot, Kravetz crossed it before Whatmore could close, to the back side post where it was just out of reach of a charging Nicole Hawk.

"We changed and went into a 3-5-2. They (Altoona) have always done really well when we go out of our base into that," Winterburn said. "They switched flawlessly, and I think it was 30 seconds later we had a look down there. It was just one that we didn't finish. When we're pressing for a goal, losing 1-0, 2-0 or 3-0 -- it doesn't matter. A loss is a loss. At that point, we're pressing to get one to tie it."

Play continued to go back-and-forth from there with neither team getting any solid scoring opportunites.

Winterburn was forced to change things up in order to free up another player to contribute heavily on the Lady Lions' offensive attack.

At the 1:03 mark, the Trojans got some breathing room as Emanuel received a defensive clear about 40 yards away from the Altoona goal, she made a move and used her speed to get by the Lady Lion defense.

DeAntonio came charging out to put pressure on, but Emanuel was able to push the ball to the left of the keeper and into the back of the net to give McDowell the 2-0 eventual final.

Altoona didn't waste time as Kiser carried the ball on the left side moments later where she had Morgan Sarver running past her defender awaiting a through ball on the left side.

However, an extra dribble allowed the Trojan defense to step up, steal the ball and clear out the last chance the Lady Lions had.

"Once we scored the goal, they (Altoona) had to make some adjustments," Perkins said. "So, we could go ahead and sure up the defense. They had to take a chance, and luckily we were there to capitalize on that (with the late goal)."

Both teams had plenty of chances in the first half, but each time they came up empty as defenders stepped up to make big plays or either of the keepers made saves to turn the other squad away.

Altoona had its first prime chance in the 18th minute when Tessa Wise delivered a pass to Hannah Vancas, but with Whatmore charging out, the shot went wide left of the goal.

Three minutes later, Hawk found herself on the right side of the 18, so she cut back and dribbled left before ripping off the left-footed shot that Whatmore had to dive to her left in order to make the save.

With two minutes left in the half, Vancas ran onto a ball that was played through, but was a step late as Whatmore, who stopped all seven of Altoona's shots on goal, came sliding out to make the save.

"We created chances to go ahead. We created chances to tie -- we had chances," Winterburn said. "Unfortunately, we just couldn't find the back of the net with one of them."

DeAntonio faced 13 shots from the Trojans and came up with 11 of them.

Two occasions, the Altoona keeper stuffed out potential promising opportunities.

In the 23rd minute, DeAntonio stepped out on a cross by McDowell's Carmel Frenn to snatch the ball out of the air as Trojan Olivia Monti was crashing down on the goal.

With just under two minutes left in the opening half, McDowell's Gabriella Farrell gave teammate Abigail Faulhaber a through pass that skipped by Lady Lion defender Brooke Harrington. Once she received the pass, Faulhaber had a one-on-one with DeAntonio, who challenged and the shot sailed wide right of the goal.

Altoona loses five senior starters in Harrington, Kiser, Sarver, Rebecca Dull and Ashtyn Hileman.

"Our kids handled all the adversity we faced throughout the year really well," Winterburn said. "They never used it as an excuse, they never complained about anything. They just kept their heads down and worked hard."

SCORE BY HALVES

McDowell 0 2 -- 2

Altoona 0 0 -- 0

Scoring summary

First Half: No scoring.

Second Half: M--Faulkner (unassisted), 25:49; M--Emanuel (unassisted), 1:03.

Goalies: McDowell--O. Whatmore: 7 saves, 7 shots on goal; Faulkner--0 saves, 0 shots on goal; Altoona--DeAntonio: 11 saves, 13 shots on goal.

Shots: McDowell 17; Altoona 11

Corner kicks: McDowell 6; Altoona 2.

Records: McDowell (18-2-0); Altoona (15-5-0).