High School Boys soccer

Mountain Lions boys soccer miss out on chances in semifinal loss to Huskies

District 6 boys 4A soccer

Sometimes, soccer truly is a game of inches.

With more than eight minutes to play, Mifflin County senior Jace Bagrosky drew a penalty kick with the score tied 1-1 against Altoona. He proceeded to put the ball away.

Fast forward to around five minutes to play, Altoona junior Andrew Burke had a free kick around midfield. He launched his shot, but it was stopped by the Husky goalie -- Danny Quinn -- about three feet from the net.

That was as close as the second-seeded Mountain Lions got to avoiding the upset as they fell to the third-seeded Huskies, 2-1, in the District 6 Class 4A Boys' semifinal at Mansion Park Tuesday night.

"That's the game in a nutshell," Altoona coach Travis Young said. "We had 80 minutes to take care of it, and we didn't capitalize on our chances in a game that's back-and-forth like that.

"One flip of a coin, they get a call that goes their way late in the second half, and they take the 2-1 lead. It's difficult to come back from that. We tried, but time runs out."

This is the second time in more than a week that these two teams met with the Huskies handing Altoona a 2-0 setback on Oct. 19. It was also redemption for the Huskies who fell in the playoffs to the Mountain Lions at this time a year ago by the same score on their turf.

"It's just a game at the end of the day," Bagrosky described his mentality toward shooting the PK. "There's a lot of pressure, but if you can take a breath and think, it's you and the keeper in front of you and I know that I can beat him. That's where I put it in the net."

Altoona struck first in the first half as Bilal Eltayeb drew the foul in the box and tucked in the penalty shot to give the Mountain Lions a 1-0 lead at the 16th minute.

But the Huskies (3-11-3) answered about five minutes later as Bagrosky scored the first of the two Husky goals to tie the match up at one.

Both teams did trade scoring chances in the second half as the Mountain Lion's Abubaker Hussien took a feed from George Delbaggio III off a rebound, but the shot went high.

Brayden Benfer had a breakaway for the Huskies which looked like it was the go-ahead goal at the 48thminute, but the play was ruled offside.

"Hats off to their goalkeeper, hats off to their team," Young said. "They made some great saves. We had a breakaway in the second half about halfway through. We capitalize on that probably nine out of 10 times, and today was that one time we did not."

Four of the 11 Husky losses were decided by a goal this season. Bagrosky is happy to have one of those games break in his team's direction this time.

"Throughout the year we've had a couple of games where we're in it, but we just couldn't pull through," he said, "A lot of stuff going against us this year, but we battled back the entire season, and now we're going to the District final."

Young believes putting away opportunities will be a point of emphasis as Altoona's attention now moves to 2027.

"Our message is always the same," he said. "We got to take our chances, and we've got to take them well. Finishing is going to be something that we focus on a lot in the offseason."

The Mountain Lions will say goodbye to five seniors from a team that will finish the year at 6-10-3.

"They've put their heart and soul into the last four years," Young said. "I'm gutted for them. If I could give them one more game, I would do it in a heartbeat. I wish them nothing but the best, and the guys coming back have learned a lot from those guys."

Mifflin County will face State College on Thursday night at Bald Eagle Area in the championship.

SCORE BY HALVES

Mifflin County 1 1 - 2

Altoona 1 0 - 1

First Half: A - Eltayeb (penalty kick), 15:52; 2,) MC - Bagrosky (unassisted), 21:38.

Second Half: MC - Bagrosky (penalty kick), 71:41.

Shots on goal: Altoona 8, Mifflin County 7

Corners: Altoona 6, Mifflin County 2

Saves: Krause, A, 5; Quinn, MC, 7

Records: Mifflin County (3-11-3), Altoona (6-10-3)