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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
PHILIPSBURG -- Practice paid off for Penn Cambria and senior Jacob Zunich Monday night against Penns Valley in the District 6 Class 2A high school boys soccer semifinals.
With less than 10 minutes to play in regulation and the teams locked in a scoreless tie, a hit on Nick Marshall gave the Panthers a free kick near the left sideline about 10 yards out from the goal.
Zunich angled it through a mass of Penns Valley defenders and past goalkeeper Owen Robb for the game's only goal in Penn Cambria's 1-0 triumph.
"It looked good when I kicked it, and it went in," Zunich said. "It was one of the greatest moments I have had in my soccer career."
Penn Cambria coach Nick Wanyo did not hesitate to give Zunich the opportunity.
"We were practicing it, and we decided that anything inside the 30, he would be the man," Wanyo said. "He has a nice curl with some nice length on it. I knew if we could get something in the box, we could take advantage of a mistake. It only took one for us to win this game."
Marshall, the team's leading scorer, set the kick up by getting pressure down the sideline before he was eventually knocked to the ground by a Penns Valley defender.
"I felt pressure, and we talked about it before, if you feel anything close to the box just go down," Marshall said. "I mean, he got me, but when I went down, I knew we had a scoring opportunity. We actually practiced those yesterday, so I knew (Zunich) could do it."
The Panthers will play third-seeded Juniata, which defeated Richland, 3-0, in the other semifinal on Monday night, in Thursday's District 6 Class 2A final.
"Juniata is going to be solid," Wanyo said. "It's hard to keep an eye on them because of where they play. I think we can win, but it's going to have to be a full game like we played today. The Juniata coach is a good friend of mine. I'm looking forward to it."
Penn Cambria had never been to a District 6 boys soccer final before last season, and now the defending champion is back to defend the title.
"It means a lot," Wanyo said. "These boys said in preseason that they wanted to get back. I knew we could, but Penns Valley got a lot better. Cambria Heights got a lot better. All the teams got better. It was just whether we could continue to improve every game, and we did. We fought real hard on defense today, and I'm proud of the boys."
The Panthers also upset Penns Valley, 2-1, in last year's postseason.
"It's awesome," Marshall said. "We worked for this all season, and it's amazing to beat them in back-to-back seasons. The odds are always against us. Today it was the No. 4 seed against the No. 1 seed. We needed to translate what we have been doing in practice to the game, and we did that."
Penn Cambria's best chance to score in the first half came when Marshall received a corner kick in some open space in front of the Penns Valley goal with 8:27 remaining, but he couldn't get a shot off before the Rams defenders closed in on him.
Marshall had an even better chance with 17:15 to play, but his shot hit the crossbar.
"It made me mad, because in the quarters, I did the same thing," Marshall said. "That's the second time, but I didn't give up. I knew we could trust our guys."
Just more than 10 minutes earlier, Penns Valley's Max King also hit the crossbar, and with just 1:30 to play, Tyler Mast had a good chance with a header, but he missed left.
Duncan Gongloff made 11 saves for the Panthers in recording the shutout.
The Penn Cambria win avenged a 1-0 loss to the Rams on Sept. 24.
"We have a lot of spirit," Zunich said. "It feels great to be going back to the district final. I never would have expected to go to the district championship game two years in a row, but we did it. It's a great experience."
SCORE BY HALVES
Penn Cambria 0 1 — 1
Penns Valley 0 0 — 0
First Half: none.
Second Half: PC--Zunich (free kick), 9:22.
Corner kicks: Penn Cambria 6; Penns Valley 4.
Shots on goal: Penn Cambria 5; Penns Valley 16. Saves: Gongloff, PC, 11; Robb, PV, 3.
Records: Penn Cambria (14-6-0); Penns Valley (15-4-1).