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Lone goal enough for Hollidaysburg boys soccer vs. rival Altoona

H.S. soccer

By John Hartsock 4 min read

In soccer, as in most other sports, sometimes the ball bounces a team's way, and sometimes, it doesn't.

That was certainly the case Thursday night at Mansion Park, when Hollidaysburg scored the only goal of the game in its matchup with archrival Altoona by registering an own goal late in the first half that stood up for a 1-0 Golden Tigers victory.

Hollidaysburg junior midfielder Bryce Hollingshead's kick ricocheted off an Altoona defender and went into the back of the net to decide the outcome in a game in which Altoona totally controlled the tempo through the entire second half but could not score the tying goal.

"Bryce kicked the ball low and hard, and, as far as Altoona was concerned, the ball took an unfortunate ricochet off one of their defenders and went into the cage,'' said Hollidaysburg coach Craig Shale, whose team improved to 11-2-1 while avenging an overtime loss to Altoona a few weeks ago at Tiger Stadium.

"That's a tough way to give up a goal,'' Shale added.

Especially when it's the only goal of the game.

"Soccer can be a cruel game,'' said first-year Altoona coach Travis Young, whose team dipped to 3-7-1. "Kudos to Hollidaysburg -- they're an experienced team that came in here, knew what they had to do, and executed their gameplan.

"I'm happy with the way that we played,'' Young said. "We played a consistent 80 minutes, but we just couldn't finish a ball tonight and put it in the back of their net.''

That was the case despite the fact that Altoona outshot Hollidaysburg, 8-5 in the game, and 5-2 in the second half, and fashioned a noticeable territorial and ball possession edge in the final 40 minutes.

Hollidaysburg sophomore goalkeeper Liam Jancula came up big several times in the second half to preserve the shutout.

Jancula swatted away a free kick from senior midfielder Jace Black just over seven minutes into the second half that was sharply struck and headed for the upper right corner of the cage. Jancula made a nice save on a shot along the ground by sophomore Carson Crawford later in the second half, and also came up with a good stop on a chance for junior Guillermo Mejias midway through the half.

Jancula made his final save of the game on a chance by freshman George DelBaggio III with 40 seconds left on the clock, as Hollidaysburg hung on for the victory.

"It was a tale of two halves,'' Shale said. "We really played well in the first half, but they were in total control in the second half.

"It was a well-played game in which neither team had too many scoring chances,'' Shale added. "It was a hard-fought win, and a good win, for us tonight.''

SCORE BY HALVES

Hollidaysburg 1 0--1

Altoona 0 0--0

Game notes: Hollidaysburg, which hosts Bald Eagle Area Monday night, honored its nine graduating senior players Wednesday night ... Altoona hosts Allderdice Saturday afternoon.

FIRST HALF

1, H--Own goal, 38:29.

Shots on goal: Altoona 8, Hollidaysburg 5.

Saves: Jancula, H, 8; Krause, A, 4.

Records: Hollidaysburg (11-2-1); Altoona (3-7-1)

Sr. night win

Hollidaysburg defeated Huntingdon on Wednesday night, celebrating senior night with a 3-1 win over the Bearcats.

Owen Naugle, Braelyn Ross and Bryce Hollingshead all scored for the Tigers. Draven Peters and Liam Jancula each stopped two shots in the win for Hollidaysburg

Seniors who were recognized were Naugle, Andrew Chestney, Asher Miles, Peters, Brayden Zonts, Kam Krug, Graden Jones, Nathan Trumpbour and Brody Duey.

SCORE BY HALVES

Huntingdon 1 0 — 1

Hollidaysburg 1 2 — 3

First Half: HU-Kowalski (unassisted), 25:01; H-Naugle (Arbogast, 11:16.

Second Half: H-Ross (Sydney), 29:30; H-Hollingshead (Ross), 5:12.

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