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Bellefonte girls defense shines, but falls to Golden Tigers

By Kenny Varner

ALTOONA – Coming in as underdogs into their District Championship game against Hollidaysburg, the Bellefonte girls soccer team gave the Golden Tigers everything they could handle before falling 2-0 Tuesday night at Mansion Park.

Defense took center stage for the Red Raiders as goalie Keira Whitman  came up clutch time and time again, finishing with 12 saves on the night.

“We were the y digs coming in. We had nothing to lose. They had a better record than we did,” said Bellefonte coach Stacey Miller. “This was a bonus for us. Let’s give it what we got and give them a run for their money.”

And that they did.

In the first half, the two battled back and forth, each time the offenses were sent back frustrated and scoreless.

Bellefonte’s group of defenders Adalie Pringle, Mackenzie Mamolen, Emma Rossman and Erin Cronin solidified the back line along with Whitman, forcing a stalemate for most of the first half.

Neither team allowed the other any easy looks at the goal.

With time running down in the opening stanza, Hollidaysburg’s Chloe Stoehr got loose on a breakaway attempt and found the net at 2.24.

Going into the intermission, Whitman would have already collected six saves while the Golden Tigers had nine shots on goal.

“Our defense has been pretty solid all season,” said Miller. “Our Achilles is been trying to find the back of the net. We’ve had a lot of close games. Tonight we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”

In the second, the game would be eerily similar as neither team were able to get a good look at the others goal.

Bellefonte was looking for just that one goal to tie the contest.

However, the Tigers uptempo offense and shut down defense would limit the Bellefonte chances.

However, the Red Raiders defense continued to answer the call, keeping the deficit at one for most of the second half.

As the clock wound down to under four minutes the Golden Tigers would add an insurance goal when Bella Vent scored a breakaway goal at 3:14 to put the game on ice.

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