Fox Chapel’s game too much for Tigers
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By Nate Ritchey
nritchey@altoonamirror.com
HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Hollidaysburg faced off against a Fox Chapel team on Tuesday night that possessed the ball, kept spacing, used speed and timed their runs very well.
And, they seemed it be one step ahead of Hollidaysburg all night long.
The Lady Tigers hadn't seen a team all year like that to know how to handle all those problems the Lady Foxes presented.
The end result was Hollidaysburg suffering a 5-1 season-ending loss to Fox Chapel in PIAA Class 3A first-round action at Tiger Stadium.
"They (Fox Chapel) are a good team, "Hollidaysburg coach Tristan delGiudice said. "The ball control, their first touch was better than anything we saw all year. I recorded the game because it's going to be a good opportunity for our girls to kind of go back and look at where we need to develop in the upcoming year."
The Lady Tigers, the District 6 champion, ended their season with a 15-5-1 mark. Meanwhile, the Lady Foxes, the second seed out of District 7, improved to 19-4-0.
"We had a little letdown in the WPIAL finals, so we were anxious to get back into the swing of things," Fox Chapel coach Carlo Prati said. "I thought we did an awesome job moving the ball, and we really didn't give the other team (Hollidaysburg) much of anything until that last goal."
Fox Chapel liked to penetrate deep on its attack and look for a teammate out in front of the goal. The Lady Tigers had trouble marking up and accounting for all the Foxes running into the box.
Fox Chapel capitalized twice in the opening half on 17 total shots, including 12 that kept Hollidaysburg goalkeeper Natalie Foster extremely busy.
Less than five minutes into the opening half, Fox Chapel's Maddie Grimsley used her speed to carry the ball down the right side of the box before finding teammate Antonia Linzoain out front for a 1-0 lead.
"Our team is super fast up top, so anything we could get going on the wings with our team is pretty dangerous," Prati said. "... It seems like they (Hollidaysburg) were kind of giving us space, so we kind of started really neutralizing it and finding those gaps. That seemed to work out pretty well for us."
FC continued to control the ball, and despite several more opportunities, including two corners kicks, its shots either went wide of the goal or the Tigers were able to turn the visitors away.
Paige Solomon netted the second goal at 17:30 on a setup from Emily McKee in very much the same fashion as the first. McKee used a 45-degree pass back to Solomon who with one-touch rifled the ball into the goal for a 2-0 advantage.
"On that second goal, (Hollidaysburg's) Jillian Buffone was draped all over her (Solomon) and she still managed to deflect it and put it by the keeper," Prati said.
The Lady Tigers are used to possessing the ball and being on the attack but the ball control of the Lady Foxes not only kept the ball primarily away from Hollidaysburg, but also kept it without a shot in the first 40 minutes.
After five missed opportunities on corners in the first half, FC capitalized on its first chance in the second half. Cassie Classen's kick out in front of the goalmouth was knocked in off the foot of Grimsley with 26:28 showing on the clock.
Grimsley added a second goal a little over 15 minutes later when she took a feed from McKee and used her left foot to punch the ball to the left of Foster for a 4-0.
Fox Chapel's Lily McLaughlin gave her team goal number five two minutes later on a header from Classen.
"All of their (Fox Chapel) goals were nightmares," delGiudice said. "Crosses that were deflected in as they made some excellent plays that our keeper, who had played outstanding all year, never even had a shot at."
Hollidaysburg's first and only shot on goal found its way into the back of the net as Lauren Stevenson played a corner kick across the middle where Bella Vent used her head to direct the ball in at 7:18 to make the score 5-1.
"I'm extremely proud of how well the team played and how hard they battled throughout the whole game," delGiudice said.
SCORE BY HALVES
Fox Chapel 2 3 — 5
Hollidaysburg 0 1 — 1
First half: FC--Linzoain (Grimsley), 35:14; FC--Solomon (McKee), 17:30.
Second half: FC--Grimsley (Classen), 26:28; FC--Grimsley (McKee), 10:12; FC--McLaughlin (Classen), 8:11; H--Stevenson (Vent), 7:14.
Goalies: Fox Chapel -- Patterson: 0 saves, 1 shots on goal; Hollidaysburg -- Foster: 15 saves, 20 shots on goal.
Shots: Fox Chapel 31, Hollidaysburg 1.
Corner kicks: Fox Chapel 6, Hollidaysburg 2.
Records: Fox Chapel (19-4-0); Hollidaysburg (15-5-1).