Four-peat! Altoona Lady Lions edge State College for another District 6 crown
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Altoona’s Ava Frye (right) celebrates her penalty kick goal with teammate Ingrid Steward during the first half on Thursday.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Altoona’s Nara Harzbecker settles the ball in front of State College keeper Kali Hazel on Thursday.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Altoona’s Mikayla Patterson controls the ball in front of State College’s Elliot Chambers at Bald Eagle Area High School in Wingate.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Altoona’s Ava Frye (right) celebrates her penalty kick goal with teammate Ingrid Steward during the first half on Thursday.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Altoona’s Nara Harzbecker settles the ball in front of State College keeper Kali Hazel on Thursday.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Altoona’s Mikayla Patterson controls the ball in front of State College’s Elliot Chambers at Bald Eagle Area High School in Wingate.
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WINGATE -- Sparked by outstanding defense and goaltending, as well as timely scoring, the Altoona Area High School girls soccer team captured the program's fourth straight District 6 Class 3A championship by topping State College, 2-1 in overtime Thursday night at Bald Eagle Area High School's Alumni Field.
Sophomore Leah Connolly scored the game-winning goal with 8:08 left in the second overtime period off a corner kick assist from senior Ava Frye to earn second-seeded Altoona (8-9-2) the gold medal.
"We earned a corner kick that Ava took and Leah timed it well, and actually knocked the ball into the cage off her chest,'' Altoona coach Marc Frye said. "It's our fourth district championship in a row and I think that the feeling is 60 percent relief and 40 percent joy on my part. State College is a very good team and they beat us 4-1 during the regular season. We played with a lot of heart tonight.''
Altoona opened the scoring on a penalty kick by Ava Frye at the 12:47 mark of the first half before top-seeded State College tied the game 1-1 at the 18:11 mark of the first half on a rebound goal by Ayda Bayly.
Thanks to the outstanding goalkeeping of Altoona senior Haylee Rodriquez, the score remained tied through regulation. Rodriquez stopped a second-half penalty kick by Bayly and also made an outstanding save later in the half.
Altoona defender Jaycee Alexander starred on the back line and was an unsung hero in the victory.
"She is a shut-down defender who we assigned to cover their best forwards, and she had a fantastic game,'' Marc Frye said.
Altoona moves on to play in a District 6-10 subregional at a date and site to be determined next week.
"This was a very physical, well-played game on both ends tonight,'' Marc Frye said.