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High School Girls soccer

Cambria Heights girls soccer off to good start in playoffs

D6 2A girls soccer

By John Hartsock 3 min read

PATTON -- The Cambria Heights girls soccer program won its first District 6 championship ever last October.

The Lady Highlanders took the first step toward defending their Class 2A title Tuesday night, using territorial domination, especially in the first half, to shut out Penns Valley, 2-0, in a quarterfinal-round matchup at the Cambria Heights High School Stadium.

The win earns top-seeded Cambria Heights (16-2-1) a home semifinal-round game next Monday night against fourth-seeded Juniata, which defeated Penn Cambria, 2-1, in another quarterfinal-round game Tuesday night.

"There has been a lot of pressure on this team all season as the defending district champions,'' said Nikki Spanik, who serves as associate head coach of the Heights team with Greg Galinis. "We're looking to go back to the championship game again this year.''

The Lady Highlanders smothered eighth-seeded Penns Valley (5-12-1) in the first half, carving out a 15-1 advantage in shots on goal. For the game, Heights held a 24-2 advantage in shots on goal.

"It was frustrating having so many shots on goal, and many of those shots not going in,'' Spanik said. "We mostly took a possession approach to this game.''

The Lady Highlanders didn't need to score more than once to win Tuesday's game, and they bunched their two goals less than five minutes apart early in the first half.

Both goals were unassisted, with junior forward/midfielder Ella Lamb knocking home a loose ball at the 9:41 mark of the first half, and senior midfielder Kinley Rogal blasting home a mid-range kick from in front of the cage at 14:04.

Those goals held up on a night in which Penns Valley could generate virtually nothing offensively.

Penns Valley junior goalkeeper Emma Marks had an outstanding game, stopping 22 Heights shots in the game — including a bevy of stellar saves — to keep Penns Valley's hopes for an upset alive.

"Emma is a junior who has been improving every year,'' Penns Valley coach Sean Hermann said. "She made some clutch saves tonight to keep this game close, and I'm very proud of her.''

Penns Valley tightened up on defense in the second half, preventing the Lady Highlanders from roaming the field at will and crashing the cage like they did in the first 40 minutes.

"Cambria Heights is a very skilled team - it's going to take a lot to beat them,'' Hermann said. "But if we had played the whole game like we played the second half, it might have been a different game.''

Penns Valley had no real serious scoring threats against Heights junior keeper Emma Gilbey, who logged the shutout.

"I felt that we put a lot of pressure on them offensively in that first half, and defensively, we didn't allow them to get opportunities,'' Galinis said.

SCORE BY HALVES

Penns Valley 0 0--0

Cambria Heights 2 0--2

First half

1, CH--Lamb (unassisted), 9:41. 2, CH--Rogal (unassisted), 14:04.

Records: Penns Valley (5-12-1); Cambria Heights (16-2-1).

Shots on goal: Cambria Heights 24, Penns Valley 2.

Saves: Marks, PV, 22; Gilbey, CH, 2.

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