High School Soccer

Highlanders oust Panthers in quarterfinal round

By Rick Weaver

For the Mirror

PATTON -- Mason Eckenrode scored the game-winning goal in overtime at Cambria Heights overcame pesky Penn Cambria, 2-1, in a District 6 Class 2A soccer quarterfinal contest at Cambria Heights High School on Tuesday night.

The Highlanders will play second-seeded Penns Valley in a semifinal match on Monday at Philipsburg-Osceola High School.

Penn Cambria finished the year 4-9-1.

"The boys fought hard. I feel bad. They really wanted it," Panthers coach Nick Wanyo said. "But I told them someone's got to lose."

The Highlanders (11-7-1) had defeated Penn Cambria, 4-1, in the season opener.

"Penn Cambria got a lot better as the year went on," Cambria Heights coach Adam Strasser said. "I thought they were a very tough first-round match."

And Cambria Heights held the territorial edge in a tightly contested first half. Penn Cambria junior Andrew Dillon opened the scoring in the 58th minute, and created a bit of uneasiness among the Cambria Heights supporters.

"Heights got out of position, and it fell right to Andrew's feet," Wanyo said. "And one on one I'd take him one on one against a lot of players."

"It did take a little bit for us to get going," Strasser said. "But once we did, I saw a lot of good things. We passed the ball extremely well. I thought we had a lot of good crosses, a lot of good shots on goal. And I thought we defended extremely well, too."

The Highlanders came close to the match's first goal in the 48th minute when the ball ricocheted toward the post to the goalkeeper's right. But Penn Cambria sophomore Dustin Gongloff caught the ball before it crossed the plane to quell the scoring threat.

Dillon's goal proved to be a motivating factor.

"We were worried that we would get down like we usually did. That was one problem we had this season. We'd get down and we'd become less motivated. But we knew that if we lost this game, we'd be done. So that motivated us more to come back and keep going," said senior midfielder Colin Sherry, who assisted on both Highlanders goals.

"It motivated us more to come back stronger and keep going, knowing that if we lost this game we were done," he said.

George Campbell tied the score with a header off a feed from Sherry in the 68th minute as the match started to open up.

"Any time you're in the playoffs, and the opposing team scores the first goal in the second half, it can be really tough. But I give my kids a lot of credit. They were very determined, and they kept fighting," Strasser said. "And I did have a feeling that we would have a lot more opportunities because we were crossing the ball well. We were attacking the net well. But our guys were definitely resilient, and they kept fighting to the end."

Strasser emphasized the need to win the loose balls and keep the Penn Cambria defense on its heels.

"We were susceptible to those 50-50 balls. We knew going into it," Wanyo said. "That's how they scored on the first goal. We tried to make some adjustments."

"We did a really good job winning a lot of throws and a lot of kicks," Strasser said.

SCORE BY HALVES

Penn Cambria 0 1 0 -- 1

Cambria Heights 0 1 1 -- 2

Second half

PC--Dillon (unassisted), 58:00; CH--Campbell (Sherry), 68:00

Overtime

CH--Eckenrode (Sherry), 50:00

Shots on goal: Penn Cambria 8, Cambria Heights 9

Corner kicks: Penn Cambria 2, Cambria Heights 3

Saves: Gongloff, PC, 8; Patterson, CH, 7

Officials--Dirk Johnson, Ethan Vipond, Christopher Walter.