Penns Valley girls soccer leans on sisters in District 6 title win over Bishop Guilfoyle
Penns Valley girls soccer is sisterhood — literally and figuratively.
Alyssa Denger graduated in 2017. Her younger sister, Hannah Denger, won a Mountain League championship in 2018, but never won a District 6 title before graduating in 2020.
On Tuesday night, the youngest sister, Nicole, watched her teammate Scotty Dinges boot in a goal for a 2-1 win in the second overtime against Bishop Guilfoyle in the District 6 Class 1A championship game. Following the game, Nicole displayed her championship medal to her sisters with a number of smiles and playful jabs thrown in.
“It’s definitely something that I can brag about during the holidays that I’m the only sister that made it and I did it,” Nicole Denger said. “My sisters have honestly been my biggest mentors in life and honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. So, I give all of the credit to them.”
Speaking of Scotty Dinges, she too is part of a sisterhood of Penns Valley players. Her older sister, Avery, starred at goalie and her younger sister, Elle, scored the first goal of the game at the 31:39 mark. Scotty Dinges’ goal came after a number of shots on goal, as the junior put pressure on the Lady Marauders defense throughout the night.
With less than nine minutes left in the second overtime, Scotty Dinges got past the defenders and saw that the goalkeeper fumbled the ball. She looked to put a touch on the ball, dislodging the ball from the goalkeeper and scoring an easy goal at the 8:54 mark.
Penns Valley has seen its fair share of ups and downs this season. The team started at 7-0 and fell in three straight games to Philipsburg-Osceola, Hollidaysburg and Clearfield. While the Lady Rams won their next game against Huntingdon, they went just 2-4-1 from that point. Scotty Dinges believes that the victory stems from her team’s fortitude throughout the season.
“It’s so much emotion,” Scotty Dinges said. “I’m just so thankful for my team behind me and this great celebration … It’s so emotional because we’ve really grown as a team together and everyone is supporting each other no matter what. It’s a really big win and I’m really proud of our whole team.”
Penns Valley usually comes out strong after scoring the first goal of the game. The team’s mindset is to continue to put pressure on the defense and to be relentless in their attack against the goalie.
The mindset is the same on the other side for Avery Dinges as the team’s goalkeeper. With a lead, she’ll play boldly — leaking out of the box to make saves and motivating her teammates with sharp decision-making to pick up the ball to place the ball into attacking position. The eldest Dinges plays goalie akin to a center grabbing a rebound in basketball and tossing an outlet pass to her teammates in transition.
While she allowed a goal to Bishop Guilfoyle’s Lainey Farabaugh with 23:38 left in regulation, Avery Dinges didn’t get rattled, had help from her defense and she watched on as her sister went on to finish the game
“They always have my back and I know that no matter what, my defense is going to hustle back,” Avery Dinges said. “I’m always nervous whenever we go into overtime, but we’ve always pulled through.”
As Penns Valley waits for its next opponent in the PIAA Class 1A playoffs, the team celebrated as sisters on Tuesday night, gleefully cheering for one another and hoisting the program’s first District 6 Class 1A championship.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 10:00 PM.
