Bellefonte remains undefeated, outlasts Lady Rams
By Kenny Varner
BELLEFONTE – Hosting its annual senior night, the Bellefonte girls soccer team hosted Penns Valley in its first meeting with the Rams as Laurel Highlands competition.
The former Mountain League foes put on quite a battle for 80 minutes but when the buzzer sounded, the talented Red Raiders remained undefeated, topping Penns Valley 2-0.
“I want to give a shout out to MacKenzie Mamolen, one of our seniors, unfortunately she got sick and wasn’t able to be on the field tonight. So we had to rearrange some people in our line up, we had to move some people around,” said Bellefonte coach Stacey Miller. “I think the first half you saw everyone getting used to the cards being shuffled on the field basically. In the second half we moved some more people around. I think we found a good combination and I think they came out in the second half ready to play and we put it together.”
Before the contest, Bellefonte seniors honored were Laura Lodge, MacKenzie Mamolen, Grace Orr, Keira Whitman and Maureen Zubler.
Bellefonte had to deal with the temporary loss of Mamolen who missed Monday’s game.
However, the Lady Raiders were able to fight through the competition to pick up the win.
After a scoreless first half, the Red Raiders wasted no time at all ending the scoreless tie coming out of the break.
Getting the ball in the open lane, Sydney Miller picked up the ball and blazed her way down the field and blasted a shot, picking up an unassisted goal at 38:39.
“We knew coming into this game that Bellefonte is going to be a tough team to beat. They are at the top of the league right now,” said Penns Valley coach Shawn Herrmann. “We knew it would be hard. We knew we’d really have to battle. In that first half I was exceptionally proud of the girls for the way they played and being able to keep up with a team like Bellefonte.”
The Red Raiders started to take the momentum and expanded the lanes and it’s defense was able to refuse any Rams easy looks at the Bellefonte goal.
Minutes later, Bellefonte was able to get an insurance goal.
In transition, Miller found teammate Angelina Kasak in the right corner. Kasak blasted a corner shot upping the lead to 2-0 at 27:47.
As the time ticked away, Penns Valley continued to battle, looking to put themselves on the scoreboard.
Penns Valley’s Scottie Di he’s broke loose midway through the second half and had her sights on the Bellefonte goal. Her open shot just sailed just above the net.
From there, the Red Raider defense was able to keep everything in check, neither team allowed another open breakaway shot the rest of the contest.
In the end, Bellefonte led in shots by a 19-7 advantage while Penns Valley held the 3-2 advantage in corner opportunities.
Bellefonte goalie Keira Whitman finished with five saves while the Lady Rams goalie Chamiqua Gentzel finished with 12.