Lady Little Lions cruise into final

Gordon Brunskill

STATE COLLEGE — Coaches often preach the importance of the set piece in soccer.

CDT/Christopher Weddle

State College's Kelsey Gill moves the ball past Hollidaysburg's Sarah Cobler at Memorial Field in State College on Monday, November 2, 2009. CDT/Christopher Weddle

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A prime example was given Monday night at Memorial Field.

Three of the four goals scored were the results of restarts and the State College girls cashed in on the opportunities.

Lauren Kenney, Katelyn Gill and Megan Ritchey netted the goals while keeper Sarah Sal-lade made four saves as the Lady Little Lions beat Hollidaysburg 3-1 in the District 6 Class AAA semifinals.

“Clearly in this match (it’s) pretty important,” State College coach Kevin Morooney said. “We made them a point of emphasis. Maybe not late in the season, but we’ve certainly placed a lot of emphasis on them probably more this season than in the last two or three seasons.”

The Lady Little Lions (15-2) move on to the district championship game for the 19th consecutive season for a meeting with Central Mountain (17-2) at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bald Eagle Area’s Alumni Stadium. The Lady Wildcats beat Bellefonte 2-0 in Monday’s other semifinal.

Trailing 1-0 at halftime did not phase defending district champion State College, which dominated play after the break, outshooting the Lady Tigers 15-1.

The pressure brought fouls, which in turn brought those set pieces.

The first restart came from about 30 yards from the net near the middle of the field. Kelsey Gill booted the ball toward the net, and was deflected off a wall of Hollidaysburg defenders. The ball kept trickling forward to the feet of Kenney, who had leaked behind the defense and booted the ball low to the far post just 1:14 into the second half.

“One thing that we’ve had a problem with over the last few years,” Morooney said, “is understanding the value of just keeping the thing on frame and keeping the thing in the belly of the six (-yard box). Kelsey just did exactly that and the ball bounced the right way and a great thing happened.” The go-ahead score came just over six minutes later with Katelyn Gill lining up a free kick from the sideline about 35 yards away. The ball arced beautifully over everyone and just inside the far post. “Kate’s service, given the way they were defending, was a brilliant idea,” Morooney said. “If it doesn’t go in, we had two on the post. As soon as she hit it I’m like, ‘We’re going to stuff it in.’”

The Lady Little Lions added an insurance goal when Ritchey redirected a ball from Ally Reid with 13:03 left.

“We did a lot of things in build-up and we didn’t get any satisfaction, any positive reward,” Morooney said. “That was just great foot shape. That’s one thing Megan Ritchey — she may have come out of the womb with her toe extended. She’s good at that.”

Hollidaysburg’s goal also was the result of a set piece — when a corner kick bounced around the penalty box and eventually landed on the head of Mackenzie Walter for the first goal the Lady Tigers (13-4-1) scored against State College is three games this season.

“We’ve been very good this year off corner kick plays,” Lady Tigers coach Dave Soellner said. “We have a lot of teams that can’t defend that. We have some really unique plays that we put in there and a lot of our goals this year are off of corner kick plays.”

Gordon Brunskill can be reached at 231-4608.