Metro

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Even for a team that has as much talent as Hollidaysburg boys soccer, it’s hard to play back-to-back nights.

After being dealt their first loss of the season to Altoona on Monday evening, the Golden Tigers got back to their winning ways on Tuesday evening in a 3-2 victory over Tyrone.

“It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win,” Hollidaysburg coach Craig Shale said. “You can tell the legs were tired from last night. Credit to Tyrone. We did not play well, but a win is a win. If that’s the worst you play, then we’re in good shape.”

Hollidaysburg improved to 5-1 after falling by the same 3-2 score to the Mountain Lions on Monday. The win puts the Tigers in first place in the early-season District 6 Class 3A standings, with Tyrone slightly behind them in second place.

The Tigers handed the much-improved Eagles their first loss of the season. Tyrone has wins over Huntingdon, Philipsburg-Osceola, Richland and Forest Hills so far this season.

It’s early, but a very big step in the right direction for the Eagles after only winning three games just two years ago.

“We’ve come such a long way,” Tyrone coach Alex Bartlett said. “We love big games like this because we’re a good team as well. We embrace big games like this. Losing stinks, but through losses comes growth. We’re just going to grow from this, and we’ll see them again and hopefully have a different result.”

The two teams battled to a scoreless tie after the first half with the Golden Eagles holding a slight 4-3 advantage in the shot column after 40 minutes. Hollidaysburg did not record its first shot until the 20th minute.

“I told them to relax a little bit (at halftime) and just play our game,” Shale said. “We still didn’t click, but we had a little more possession. They didn’t really have too many chances.”

The Tigers broke through for the first time in the fourth minute of the second half as Alex Arbogast’s blast from the 25 found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Tyrone tied the game at 1 after a penalty kick was awarded at 52:26. Grant Miller buried it for the Eagles to even things up again.

It took less than five minutes for Hollidaysburg to re-take the lead after Brady Lewis cleaned up a rocket at the goal that was initially saved.

Lewis got the rebound and got just enough of the ball for it to cross the goal line.

Owen Naugle added another goal for the Tigers at 65:15 to take a 3-1 lead before Tyrone’s Gavin Tuskovich found one more goal with just over a minute left to set the final.

Liam Jancula made five saves for the Tigers, while Devin Nardelli registered seven saves for Tyrone.

Both teams are on the road on Thursday. Hollidaysburg visits Bellefonte, while Tyrone travels to Clearfield.

SCORE BY HALVES

Tyrone 0 2 — 2

Hollidaysburg 0 3 — 3

Second Half: H — Arbogast, 43:36; T — Miller (penalty kick), 52:26; H — Lewis, 57:08; H — Naugle, 65:15; T — Tuskovich, 78:55.

Records: Tyrone (4-1); Hollidaysburg (5-1)