Breaking News
High School Soccer

Scoring frenzy: Altoona Lady Lions soccer team dominates rival Hollidaysburg

By John Hartsock 3 min read

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- With the District 6 Class 4A playoffs on the very near horizon, the Altoona Area High School girls soccer team got the kind of performance that it was looking for Monday night.

Led by three goals and two assists apiece from senior forward Sophia O'Dea and junior center-midfielder Ava Frye, Altoona dominated its game with archrival Hollidaysburg from start to finish and breezed to a 9-0 victory at Tiger Stadium.

"I thought the girls played very well tonight,'' said Altoona coach Marc Frye, whose team improved to 12-2-2. "Early in the game, we were trying to push forward a little too much, but once we settled down and opened up space for ourselves, things went OK for us.''

Ava Frye got the evening going for Altoona with a goal 9:31 into the game, and junior Ajaycia Alexander scored the first of her two goals on the night for the Lady Lions three minutes later to put Altoona up 2-0.

O'Dea booted in a sizzling shot from the center of the field off an assist from Ava Frye with 8:05 left in the first half, staking Altoona to a 3-0 lead at intermission.

"Ava and Sophia are our team captains, and both of them lead 100 percent and provide a great example for our underclassmen,'' Marc Frye said. "Sophia now has 51 goals for her high school career, and she played on the back line for some of that time, so that total is particularly impressive.''

Altoona continued rolling in the second half, scoring six unanswered goals. Ava Frye scored on a penalty kick 5:45 into the second half, and junior Sylvie Boslet converted an assist from Ave Frye at the 17-minute mark to put Altoona ahead, 5-0.

Ava Frye completed her hat trick with her third goal of the night at the 19:08 mark of the second half, and two goals by O'Dea -- an unassisted tally at 23:41 and another score to complete her three-goal hat trick at 30:49 -- gave Altoona an 8-0 lead.

Alexander completed the game's scoring with her second goal with 5:43 left to polish off Altoona's very impressive victory.

"We played great tonight at all the positions on the field,'' Ava Frye said. "I'm really proud of the girls for getting us a big win tonight against our rivals.''

O'Dea concurred.

"This is the last time that we're playing our archrival Hollidaysburg in my career, and we obviously played really well tonight,'' O'Dea said. "The team really brought it, and it was a good win for us as we are closing our regular season.''

Altoona finishes its regular season with a road game at Mifflin County on Wednesday night.

"I feel like we're hitting our stride right now,'' Marc Frye said. "We were in some close games this year that really helped us to become seasoned as a team. We still need to clean up a few things, but I really think that we're peaking at the right time.''

Hollidaysburg (11-5) hosts Clearfield tonight. Lady Tigers coach Tristan delGiudice refused comment after Monday's game.

SCORE BY HALVES

Altoona 3 6--9

Hollidaysburg 0 0--0

First half: 1, A--Frye (O'Dea), 9:31. 2, A--Alexander (O'Dea), 12:30. 3, A--O'Dea (Frye), 31:55.

Second half: 4, A--Frye (penalty kick), 5:45. 5, A--Boslet (Frye), 17:00. 6, A--Frye (Irvin), 19:08. 7, A--O'Dea (unassisted), 23:41. 8, A--O'Dea (Nguyen-Moore), 30:49. 9, A--O'Dea (Nguyen-Moore), 34:17.

Shots on goal: Altoona 18, Hollidaysburg 2. Saves: Rodriquez, A, 2; Jadlocki, H, 9.

Records: Altoona (12-2-2); Hollidaysburg (11-5).

Starting at /week.