State College dominates Hollidaysburg

Gordon Brunskill

- gbrunski@centredaily.com

STATE COLLEGE — The game was supposed to be a battle for the top seeding for the District 6 playoffs, and a possible preview of the district championship.

CDT/Christopher Weddle

State College's Laura Lovins stretches to kick the ball against Hollidaysburg's Marissa Kennedy on Wednesday, October 14, 2009. CDT/Christopher Weddle

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For a little more than a half, it was a toe-to-toe battle, and a different bounce off a goal post may have changed the story.

Instead, State College put Hollidaysburg away after halftime with a dominating performance in a 5-0 victory at South Track Field.

“I still think it was a battle for No. 1 or No. 2,” Lady Little Lion coach Kevin Morooney said. “It depends on how things shake out with Central Mountain.”

With the district playoff bracket to be set after next Monday’s games, teams are scrambling to pick up any point they can in a tight race among those three schools to be the top seed for the Class AAA playoffs.

Central Mountain has the best record among the three at 13-2, while State College is 12-2 and Hollidaysburg is 11-3-1. The Lady Little Lions, however, now own a 3-0 record against the other two by a combined margin of 13-1.

“It’s very likely we’ll see them one more time,” Morooney said.

Lauren Eck and Kelsey Gill each scored a pair of goals and Ally Reid added the other for State College.

The game could have been so much different if not for an unfriendly — or friendly, depending on your point of view — bounce off a post.

Just over 15 minutes into the game, the Lady Tigers’ Megan McIntyre split through the Lady Little Lion defense and rifled a shot low past State College keeper Sarah Sallade. The ball bounced off the left post back to Hollidaysburg’s Taylor Vladic, but her put-back was softly booted to Sallade.

“It would have looked very different,” Morooney said. “It’s such a momentum game, as many sports are. ... That was most fortunate because it changes the texture of the game.”

State College finally broke through about 12 minutes later, when Eck took a pass from Maegan Morooney near midfield and blitzed through the Lady Tiger defense like a race car driver through a parking lot. Eck ripped off a shot with a defender on her hip, beating keeper Alexis Preston to the lower left corner.

The game remained a tenuous 1-0 at halftime, but the Lady Little Lions stepped on the gas almost immediately after the break.

Gill scored her first goal from Laura Lovins 7:03 after intermission in a scramble after a corner kick, then Gill took a pass from Lauren Kenney and made a run from her own from midfield two minutes later to make it 3-0.

Eck added her second score with 14:16 left, slipping the ball through a crowd from Megan Porter, and Reid finished the scoring by knocking home a ball from Paige Fry to close another corner kick.

What should have been a close battle ended up lopsided — a 32-5 shot advantage for State College, including 18-0 after halftime.

“Hollidaysburg has a handful of personality players up top and that’s hard to shut down,” Kevin Morooney said. “It’s a real testament to our backs’ and keepers’ organization and ability to communicate. I loved the way they were talking today.”

Sallade made just the one save on that rebound in teaming with Ginger Wool-ridge for the shutout, their ninth of the season.

“We did a good job,” senior defender Izabel Scott said of keeping shots away from their keepers. “We kept them from getting a lot of crosses on the ground and behind us, and we kept them from getting a shot.”

It was also a satisfying display for the team after Monday’s 4-0 loss to Midd-West, a strong contender out of District 4 to be a potential PIAA first-round opponent should one of these teams still be playing.

“I think we bounced back pretty well from that,” Scott said. “We were frustrated but we knew we couldn’t let it bring us down and keep us from playing well in our other games.”

Notes: The game was the State College soccer team’s “Passion for Pink” contest, joining volleyball and field hockey contests in the past week raising money and awareness for the fight against breast cancer. Players wore pink gloves and tape on their socks, and one of the balls used was pink. ... The State College junior varsity won 3-0 to stay undefeated (12-0-1). That team has allowed one goal all season. ... Preston made nine saves for Hollidaysburg. ... The Lady Little Lions travel to face another state power, Mount Lebanon, on Saturday.