Hometown Sports
Don't Miss

Mifflin County girls historic run comes to an end in the D6 championship game

By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – They never gave up!

Despite finding themselves down 3-1 late in their District 6 Class AAAA championship game, the Mifflin County girls soccer team battled “tooth and nails” for the final minutes of the contest but ran out of time, falling to Altoona 3-1.

However, the Lady Huskies did what no other Mifflin County soccer team did before them, making it to the title tilt.

“I can’t say enough about these girls. They are a fantastic group of girls,” said Mifflin County coach Barrett Knepp. “They battle to the end no matter what.”

Things started out promising for the

first half as it took only moments for the Huskies to jump on the scoreboard.

After picking up a pass from Sara Henry, Aubrey Strohecker drove right at the Altoona goalkeeper and was able to get it up and over her and then sent it home at 36:54 left in the first.

That gave the Huskies a huge boost as they were able to take the early momentum.

Mifflin County was able to cut down the Mountain Lions passing game while it continued to keep the ball on Altoona’s side of the field.

When the Lions did get loose and had a look at the net Mifflin County goalie Bailey McNitt was shutting down everything Altoona was kicking at her. McNitt finished the day with nine saves in the contest.

Mifflin County missed a few chances in the first to add onto their lead.

But defensively, the backfield of Mifflin County was there to stop anything from getting to the goal.

Even when it did McNitt was there to shut things down.

When the buzzer sounded for the intermission, both teams had seven shots on goal while Mifflin County had five corner opportunities.

When the two teams came out of the break, both had stepped up their games.

It would be Altoona that would find the back of the net in the second.

A Husky penalty at the 32:37 mark, Altoona lined up for a penalty kick.

Ashtyn Hileman found the corner of the net, tying the contest at one.

Before the Huskies were able to get settled in, Altoona struck again as Nichole Hawk snuck a shot past McNitt, giving the Mountain Lions the lead.

But the Huskies refused to go down without a fight.

The game was a back-and-forth battle that put the fans on the edges of their seats.

Altoona added an insurance goal late in the contest to put the game out of reach.

As the Huskies walked off the field for the final time, their legacy will last as they etched their names in Huskies record book as they finished as District 6 Class AAAA runner ups.

With a large group coming back, the sky’s the limit for the Lady Huskies soccer program.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.