According to Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School girls soccer coach Joe DeLeo, sophomore forward Hailey DeGol is the consummate team player — but sometimes, at her own expense.

“Hailey has always been extremely talented, but we’ve been working on her becoming more assertive on the field,” DeLeo said. “She tends to involve her teammates in scoring chances when she should be taking the shots herself. We’ve been telling her that if she took that step, she would help the team even more.”

DeGol has obviously been paying attention. She scored five goals Wednesday night — including four unassisted tallies — to lead BG (18-1 this season) to an 8-2 win over Penns Valley in a District 6 Class 1A semifinal matchup at Mansion Park.

The victory earns the top-seeded Lady Marauders a berth against third-seeded Bald Eagle Area in next Wednesday night’s district championship game at a site and time to be determined. BEA advanced to the title game with a 2-1 semifinal victory over second-seeded West Branch Wednesday.

DeGol scored twice in the first half and three times in the second, while senior midfielder Nicole Hawk added two goals and senior midfielder Finley Steinbugl scored the other for BG, which built a 4-0 halftime lead and led by as much as 8-0 midway through the second half.

“Our ball movement was the key for us tonight,” DeGol said. “I think that we played really hard as a team, and all the hard work that we’ve put in as a team this year makes us deserving of being in the district championship game.”

After Hawk opened the scoring at the 17:24 mark of the first half on an assist from freshman forward Emma Marasco, DeGol scored unassisted on a breakaway shot at 21:25, before putting in a rebound off an assist from senior defender Sarah Geishauser at 26:15 to stake BG to a 3-0 lead.

Senior midfielder Finley Steinbugl scored off a header on an assist from freshman defender Catie Cammarata at the 28:03 mark to give BG the 4-0 lead at intermission.

“I thought we moved the ball well as a team, and I thought that Hailey finished particularly well tonight,” DeLeo said. “We played (Penns Valley) during the regular season on our school field and it was a much closer game that we won, 2-0.

“Some days, you get the shots and the goals, and other days, you can’t find the back of the net,” DeLeo added. “Sometimes you get on a streak where everything goes well and you kind of ride that wave like we did tonight. I was happy for that.”

A goal by Hawk and three straight unassisted goals by Degol put BG ahead 8-0 at the 19:17 mark of the second half.

Fourth-seeded Penns Valley, which wrapped up an 8-11 season, got consolation goals from sophomore midfielder Elle Dinges and senior forward Scotty Dinges late in the second half.

“Bishop Guilfoyle does have a heck of a team and we knew that coming in here,” Penns Valley coach Sean Herrmann said. “They’re 18-1, and that’s a credit to them. Our girls played a 2-0 game with them at their field two weeks ago, and our girls worked hard tonight. But it’s tough to pull (a victory) out against (BG).”

The Lady Marauders lost to Penns Valley in last fall’s district championship game and will be trying to make amends next Wednesday against Bald Eagle Area – a team that BG defeated, 2-0 in mid-September.

“We played them during the regular season, they’re well-coached, and they have a lot of talent,” DeLeo said of the BEA team. “We’ve worked pretty hard all this season to get back to the district championship game again this year. Hopefully, we can bring one home this time.”

SCORE BY HALVES

Penns Valley 0 2–2

Bishop Guilfoyle 4 4–8

First half

1, BG–Hawk (Marasco), 17:24. 2, BG–Degol (unassisted), 21:25. 3, BG–Degol (Geishauser), 26:15. 4, BG–Steinbugl (Cammarata), 28:03.

Second half

5, BG–Hawk (Marasco), 2:47. 6, BG–Degol (unassisted), 3:40. 7, BG–Degol (unassisted), 13:19. 8, Degol (unassisted), 19:17. 9, PV–E. Dinges (S. Dinges), 28:26. 10, PV–S. Dinges (E. Dinges), 39:08.

Shots on goal: Bishop Guilfoyle 12, Penns Valley 9.

Saves: Marks, PV, 4; Rumfola, BG, 7.

Records: Penns Valley (8-11); Bishop Guilfoyle (18-1).