Tigers get up off the mat with win over Guilfoyle
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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
Hollidaysburg Area High School seniors Bella Vent and Lauren Stevenson are key members of the school's varsity girls basketball team.
They're both also pretty good soccer players as well.
Stevenson scored two goals, and Vent scored the go-ahead goal and added an assist Tuesday night, leading Hollidaysburg to a 3-1 Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference victory over host Bishop Guilfoyle Academy at Tom Irwin Field.
The win improved Hollidaysburg's overall season record to 10-4-1 and its conference mark to 7-1-1, and helped take some of the sting out of the Lady Tigers' tough 1-0 loss to archrival Altoona on Monday night.
"I think it's a really good win for us, especially after the Altoona loss,'' Stevenson said. "It gives us confidence for the rest of the season.''
Stevenson opened the scoring at the 15:29 mark of the first half, when she booted a shot from the deep right wing into the BG cage.
With Hollidaysburg leading, 2-1, late in the second half, Stevenson notched a big insurance goal off an assist from Vent with 7:37 left in the game to give the Lady Tigers some breathing room.
"Bella was dribbling the ball through the middle of the field, and she found a pocket opening up and got the ball toward me,'' Stevenson said. "I ran after it, dribbled through a few of the BG people, and scored.''
Stevenson, a forward on the soccer team and a guard on the basketball team, also had two goals in Hollidaysburg's 3-2 soccer victory over BG last season.
"Stevie had two goals in our game with them last year, and two goals again tonight,'' Hollidaysburg coach Tristan delGiudice said. "She did a lot to help us get another win tonight.''
So did Vent, who was named the Altoona Mirror's 2023-24 Girls Basketball Player of the Year as a junior last winter.
With the score in Tuesday's game deadlocked at 1-1 and overtime a strong possibility, Vent gathered in an assist from Hollidaysburg senior keeper Natalie Foster off Foster's free kick from near midfield. Vent found herself with wide open space behind the BG defense, put a nice deke around BG sophomore keeper Cece Rumfola, and tucked a short kick into a wide-open cage with 11:08 left in the game to give the Lady Tigers a 2-1 lead that they would never relinquish.
"They were focused on getting physical with me and bumping me around,'' Vent said of BG's defensive strategy. "(Foster) has some good kicks, and I was able to get loose with one down the field and I was pretty confident about being able to put it in.''
BG coach Joe DeLeo, whose Lady Marauders dropped to 10-3-1 overall and 10-3 in conference play, credited Hollidaysburg for a good defensive effort, which included several nice saves by standout keeper Foster.
"We were in it until the end, when they had a nice free kick from midfield and ended up scoring off of it,'' DeLeo said. "They transitioned very well from their defense to midfield, and offensively, we just couldn't break their back line as well as I had hoped that we would.
"Foster made some great saves - especially early on in the game,'' added DeLeo, whose team hosts Central on the Lady Marauders senior night Thursday.
In the first half, Foster stopped two consecutive BG shots in quick succession on a Lady Marauders' rush toward the cage. In the second half, Foster stopped a sharp dead-on kick from sophomore Emma Marasco, who accounted for BG's only goal of the game by converting an assist from senior Hailey DeGol in front of the Hollidaysburg cage with 11:05 left in the first half.
Hollidaysburg - which hosts Penns Valley Thursday night — overcame what delGiudice felt was a lackluster first half Tuesday to secure the victory in the second half.
"We're not great on a grass field,'' said delGiudice, whose team plays its home games on turf at Tiger Stadium and was playing on a grass surface at BG on Tuesday. "BG came out with a lot of energy tonight, and did a lot of good things in the first half.
"It wasn't our best outing, but I thought that we played better in the second half, and we did just enough to win,'' delGiudice added. "I thought our girls did a great job of overcoming the rough spots and getting on the right side of things tonight.''
SCORE BY HALVES
Hollidaysburg 1 2--3
Bishop Guilfoyle 1 0--3
First half
1, H--Stevenson (Hayer), 15:29. 2, BG--Marasco (DeGol), 28:55.
Second half
3, H--Vent (Foster), 28:52. 4, H--Stevenson (Vent), 32:23.
Shots on goal: Hollidaysburg 11, Bishop Guilfoyle 10. Saves: Foster, H, 9; Rumfalo, BG, 8.
Records: Hollidaysburg (10-4-1 overall, 7-1-1 in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference); Bishop Guilfoyle (10-3-1 overall, 10-3 in the conference).