Juniata Christian sweeps Belleville Mennonite

By Kenny Varner Jr.
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: October 6, 2021

Juniata Christian 6, Belleville Mennonite 0

BELLEVILLE – Juniata Christian defeated rival Belleville Mennonite in Allegheny Christian Athletic Association girls soccer action by the final score of 6-0.

Five minutes into the matchup, Juniata Christian would strike first as Erin Sheaffer made a solid pass over to Annika Martin who put the ball into the back of the net making it 1-0.

Then with 25 minutes left in the first half, Martin moved the ball over to Brinley Seler who then lobbed a shot that was just over the head of Thunder goalkeeper Karina Renno to extend the lead to 2-0.

Peyton Burd scored the final goal of the opening half as Burd was making a run towards the Belleville net and was fouled by the Thunder defense putting her in a penalty kick situation. And in that PK opportunity, Burd was able to connect to put the Lions ahead 3-0 at the break.

The Lions would add on three more goals in the second half starting with Burd sending a pass over the head of Martin who then made a run towards the net in a one on one opportunity against Renno where ultimately Martin came out on top of that battle.

A little while later, Martin found Sheaffer who took the shot that was knocked away by Renno but the official called it a goal as the ball went past the line.

The last goal of the afternoon came from Martin who received the pass from Burd and then turned and fired a shot to the back of the net for the hat trick.

Despite it being a 6-0 final, the score could have been much worse if not for the efforts of Renno who faced 36 shot attempts for the game and stopped 30 of those shots from going in.

Juniata Christian will play at Grace Prep on Thursday while Belleville Mennonite will play at Columbia County Christian on Friday.

Juniata Christian 4, Belleville Mennonite 0

BELLEVILLE – There was plenty of action packed excitement between both Juniata Christian and Belleville Mennonite, but in the end the Lions took the game by the final of 4-0 in an Allegheny Christian Athletic Association boys soccer game.

Despite all of the opportunities that were created by both Belleville Mennonite and Juniata Christian, only one goal was scored for the entire first half.

But it was not for a lack of trying, the Thunder looked to strike first as there was a pile up inside the Lions’ net and sophomore Quinn Renno sneaked in and took the shot that was off wide left.

Juniata Christian then took their chance to score as top scorer Anson Portzline made a run towards the Belleville net but was stopped by Thunder keeper Evan Crosson.

But eventually the Lions got a head as Alejandro Flores De Valgaz took advantage of Belleville Mennonite mishap on defense and slipped his way through and knocked in the lone goal of the first half.

However, prior to halftime, the Thunder had created a major opportunity to even the score at one apiece as Renno launched a cross pass over to Colton Sunderland who then used a header to send the ball over to Samuel Stoltzfus who proceeded to take the shot but was denied by Juniata Christian keeper Micah Dressler.

The shootout would continue into the second half as once again both the Thunder and Lions traded shots with one another.

This time however, Juniata Christian started to get their offense going as Flores De Valgaz moved the ball over to Avery Portzline who sent the ball to the back of the net.

Juniata Christian would then score their final two goals of the match with some help from brothers Anson and Avery Portzline.

The first goal came as younger brother Avery found big brother Anson on a lob pass and scored the goal.

Anson returned the favor to Avery a little bit later as Avery knocked in the fourth goal of the game.

But to the credit of the Belleville Mennonite Thunder, they refused to give in as they went onto the attack and kept constant pressure on the Juniata Christian defense. Yet despite their best efforts, Belleville were unable to capitalize on their scoring opportunities.

Juniata Christian (11-2-1) will travel to face Grace Prep on Thursday. Belleville Mennonite will travel to compete against Columbia County Christian Friday.