High School Soccer

Kravetz leads AAHS with 4 goals

By John Hartsock

jhartsock@altoonamirror.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG --After being on District 6 girls soccer championship teams with the Altoona Lady Lions in both her freshman and sophomore years, Hailey Kravetz experienced the other side of the coin last fall, when Altoona was beaten in the district title game by Mifflin County.

Now a senior, the outstanding forward knew that Tuesday night's District 6 Class 4A girls championship game between Altoona and State College would be her farewell chance at another district gold medal, and she was determined not to let the opportunity slip away.

"I knew how that felt last year, and I didn't want to repeat that this year,'' Kravetz said. "Every player on our team came into this game knowing that we had to win tonight.''

Thanks to Kravetz, who scored all of the four goals in the game, and a rock-solid defensive effort, Altoona carved out a 4-0 victory at Tiger Stadium, giving Marc Frye a district championship in his first season as Altoona's head coach.

"Our back line was fantastic, our midfielders got to all the 50-50 balls, and on offense, we were able to find the net after we settled in tonight,'' said Kravetz, who has now scored 44 goals this season for Altoona.

The win advanced Altoona into interdistrict play and a PIAA subregional playoff game with McDowell of District 10 on Saturday at a site -- either Erie or Pittsburgh -- and time to be determined. McDowell advanced to Saturday's showdown with a 9-0 win over Erie High School Tuesday.

Top-seeded Altoona possessed a strong territorial advantage in Tuesday's win, which was the 12th straight for the Lady Lions, who improved their season record to 14-5. Altoona wound up with a 22-6 shots-on-goal advantage and broke away in the second half after Kravetz's unassisted goal with just 3:38 left in the first half gave Altoona a 1-0 lead at intermission.

"I'm very pleased,'' Frye said. "The girls have learned to play a little more of a patient style of game, which is what you have to do, especially against a team like State College. We knew that we would have to build our offense through our midfield tonight, and connect on shorter through-balls.

"We really kind of found our game in the second half tonight, and connecting on the short passes was a key for us,'' Frye added.

Kravetz gave Altoona a 2-0 lead at the 6:10 mark of the second half, when she scored on a turnaround shot from the left of the cage after taking an assist from senior Quinn Boslet.

Kravetz registered an unassisted goal from in front of the cage at the 16:35 mark of the second half, and added her fourth and final goal at 21:08 off an assist from Tatum Shoeman.

"I told Hailey on Monday in practice that I have never seen a girl attack the ball inside the 6 (yard line) like she does,'' Frye said. "She's good from anywhere on the field, but she has a great ability to sniff out the ball inside that 6 (yard line).

"She's playing very relaxed, and that is helping her to better finish her plays,'' Frye added. "She's been amazing.''

Altoona controlled the middle of the field all night long in Tuesday's game, and Frye gave sophomore Sophia Odea special kudos for her team-first effort.

"Sophia Odea had been a forward, but because of injuries to other players, we had to move her to the back line, and she deserves a lot of props,'' Frye said. "She's been a real team player, and she has settled everything down for us on the field as a center back.''

State College (2-15) got a stellar goalkeeping effort from senior Megan Maher, who made several outstanding stops among her 18 saves in the game.

"Altoona is a tough team with a lot of strong players,'' State College coach Trevor Loehr said. "I'm really proud of my players this year. They've all worked together to try to become better, and they've done that every day in a positive way.''

Now Altoona moves on to interdistrict competition against McDowell, a team which has knocked the Lady Lions out of the playoffs in several previous seasons.

"McDowell has kind of been a thorn in our side several times in the state playoffs,'' Frye said. "We're hoping for better luck against them on Saturday.''

SCORE BY HALVES

State College 0 0--0

Altoona 1 3--4

First half: 1, A--Kravetz (unassisted), 36:22.

Second half: 2, A--Kravetz (Boslet), 6:10; 3, A--Kravetz (unassisted), 21:08; 4, A--Kravetz (Shoeman), 21:08.

Shots on goal: Altoona 22, State College 6.

Saves: Maher, SC, 18; Dietzel, A, 6.

Records: State College (2-15); Altoona (14-5).