High School Soccer

Defense keeps girls as champs

D6 3A girls soccer championship

For the Hollidaysburg Area High School girls soccer program, this season was a case of having a new coach and getting the same very successful results.

Playing under the direction of first-year head coach Tristan delGiuidice, the Hollidaysburg girls won their seventh straight District 6 Class 3A soccer championship Tuesday night at Mansion Park, blanking Bellefonte, 2-0 in the title game.

Top-seeded Hollidaysburg (14-5) got a late first-half goal from junior midfielder Chloe Stoehr, a late second-half goal from sophomore forward Bella Vent, and a shutout performance from sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Foster, to win the District 6 championship and earn the right to advance to the first round of the PIAA playoffs this Saturday.

The Lady Tigers will play District 9 champion Bradford Saturday in the PIAA subregional matchup at a District 9 site. Bradford advanced with a 3-1 win over DuBois in the District 9 title game Tuesday.

The Hollidaysburg girls soccer program had won six consecutive district championships under Dave Soellner, who retired as the program's head coach after last season.

DelGiuidice stepped into that role, and the Lady Tigers didn't miss a beat this season. After a slow start, they reeled off 10 wins in an 11-game stretch.

"This team faced a transition with a new coaching staff, and it took us awhile to get started this season, but the girls played fantastic all season, and it culminated with a hard-fought victory over Bellefonte in the district championship game tonight,'' delGiuidice said.

"We played strong defense all year, we had good senior leadership, and the entire team worked very hard,'' delGiuidice added.

As things turned out, Hollidaysburg got the only goal that it needed with just 2:24 left in the first half, when Stoehr took a feed from senior Seddy Clapper, broke down the right wing, and booted a kick into the lower left corner of the cage.

"(Clapper) kind of played the ball over everybody's head, and I broke downfield, got the ball, and shot it,'' Stoehr said.

The 1-0 score stood through almost the entire second half. Hollidaysburg outshot Bellefonte, 19-9 in the game, but Foster made a couple outstanding saves on scoring chances by sophomore midfielder Angelina Kasak to keep Hollidaysburg in the lead.

"Our goalkeeper Natalie Foster has played really well all season, and she played really well again tonight,'' delGiuidice said.

Second-seeded Bellefonte, which finished 11-4-1, played a solid defensive game but couldn't score.

"We have a pretty solid defense that has played well all year,'' Bellefonte coach Stacey Miller said. "We played well again defensively tonight. Offensively, we just couldn't find the back of the net.

"We came in as underdogs,'' added Miller, whose Bellefonte team lost all three of its regular-season games with Hollidaysburg. "They were the top seed and we were second. We had nothing to lose. We just wanted to give them a run for their money.''

The game was in the balance into the final minutes, when Vent found herself free downfield and got the ball away from the reach of Bellefonte keeper Keira Whitman, who had run out of the cage to meet her. Vent tapped the ball into the open cage with just 3:14 remaining to give Hollidaysburg its final margin of victory.

"I saw the opportunity to go turn on my speed and I kind of tapped the ball around their keeper,'' Vent said. "Then I had to get to the ball and finish the play. It feels amazing to repeat as district champions.''

Defender Kiersten Williams is one of the Hollidaysburg team's captains and senior veterans, and has been a part of the last four Hollidaysburg district championship efforts. Williams knows thatwinning titles never gets old.

"It feels great,'' Williams said. "I'm really proud of how our team came together this year. Everybody played their best, and I'm really proud of everybody on this team.''

SCORE BY HALVES

Bellefonte 0 0--0

Hollidaysburg 1 1--2

First half: H--Stoehr (Clapper), 37:36.

Second half: H--Vent (Clapper), 36:46.

Shots on goal: Hollidaysburg 19, Bellefonte 9.

Saves: Whitman, BEL, 17; Foster, H, 9.

Records: Bellefonte (11-4-1); Hollidaysburg (14-5).