FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — For the second straight season, the Blue Mountain girls soccer team is District 11 champion.
The Eagles, the District 11 No. 1 seed, used a four-goal second half to soar past No. 2 seed Lehighton 5-0, with freshman Olivia Chipriano leading the way with a pair of goals.
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While the final score indicated a dominant performance by the Eagles, who outshot Lehighton 17-1, it took a while for the floodgates to open.
Despite living in Lehighton’s defensive third for most of the first half, the Eagles struggled to finish opportunities until a handball in the box by Lehighton at the 37:26 mark gave Blue Mountain the chance it needed.
Stepping up to take the shot was senior captain Hailey Scheuer, and as she has done so often this season, Scheuer delivered the opening goal. Her soft strike into the bottom-left corner froze Lehighton goalkeeper Cassidy Litts in the net.
The Eagles took the 1-0 lead into halftime, and Blue Mountain coach Matt Kenitzer acknowledged that there were some nerves on his part through those tense opening 40 minutes.
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“First half was a little bit nervous,” he said. “We didn’t play as good as we were hoping coming out. We were a little slow, playing out of our game a bit, but we got a goal thankfully to get us up. And then second half, it just clicked and we just were playing like we have been playing. So it was awesome to watch.”
Despite the game being closer than expected for much of the first half, especially considering Blue Mountain’s dominance in possession, Kenitzer knew that one goal was all his team needed to get the ball rolling.
“That’s what we’ve been just drilling in their heads ever since the beginning of the season: just go, go, go, go, go,” he said about his team’s relentless mindset with a lead. “Don’t let up. Just keep going, keep going. And the pace that we have has just been getting faster and faster. And so, yeah, it’s just like hammering it out constantly.”
In the second half, those nerves quickly subsided as Chipriano scored just under four minutes into the half to make it 2-0, then added a second goal 12 minutes later off an assist from Scheuer.
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While the Eagles are a veteran-laden team this season with plenty of talent, the Eagles’ coach has been very impressed by Chipriano, who has made her own fair share of impact this season.
“She’s a great, strong player—a lot of talent, strength on the ball,” he said. “Her shots are really well. She’s smart, smart with passing. And she’s built into this team a lot like Hailey (Scheuer) has, where now she’s just dumping the ball off, giving passes, and getting them back. And just the pace that they both play together, it’s worked super well this season.”
Reegan Spangler and Riley Fogarty capped the evening for the Eagles with a goal each, sealing the 5-0 clean-sheet victory for Blue Mountain.
Despite the outcome being decided well prior to the final whistle, the excitement of claiming another district championship was not subdued as the Blue Mountain bench stormed onto the field in celebration. The dominant win served as a fitting end to the district tournament for one of the region’s premier powerhouses.
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Including the Schuylkill League playoffs, the win on Wednesday moves Blue Mountain’s record to an impressive 18-2-2 this season. Of those 18 wins, 13 have come via clean sheets with goalkeeper Karley Koch leading the way. The Eagles haven’t lost since Sept. 4 when they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Class 2A power Northwestern Lehigh, and have won eight straight, including four postseason contests, since a scoreless draw Oct. 3 against District 4’s Shikellamy. Across that 19-game unbeaten streak, Blue Mountain has outscored opponents by a staggering 113-5 margin. The Eagles have been nothing short of a juggernaut, with few teams able to find any weaknesses in their game.
With the win, the Eagles advance to the PIAA playoffs and will host the runner-up out of District 3 next Tuesday at home. Blue Mountain will take on either Conrad Weiser (22-1) or Cocalico (16-1-3), who face off Thursday evening at Landis Field at Central Dauphin Middle School in Harrisburg. Last season, the Eagles fell 2-1 to Lower Dauphin in their PIAA first-round matchup.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
