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BEA soccer drops Bellefonte in familiar fashion

By: KENNY VARNER

For The Express

BELLEFONTE – They meet again.

For the second time in four days the Bald Eagle Area and Bellefonte boys soccer team met to do battle on the soccer field.

In the first meeting, the Eagles got past the young Red Raiders late in the contest by a lone goal.

Tuesday it was De Ja Vu for Bald Eagle as it once again defeated Bellefonte in a nail biting thriller, this time hitting two second half goals to take home the victory, 2-1.

After a very physical battle, it would be a pass from Zachary Grant to Shane Eveleth that would see the visitors complete the second half comeback at Rogers Stadium.

Bald Eagle goalie finished the game with 11 saves, nine of those came in the first when the Eagles needed it.

Bellefonte goalie Harrison Herr came up with seven.

BEA outshot Bellefonte 19-16 while the Red Raiders had the advantage in corner opportunities 5-3.

“It was an unbelievable game. I told them when we started that there were no gimme’s in this game. These are rivalry games and it doesn’t matter how many times you play them, my kids never quit,” Bald Eagle Area Coach Jason Bair said. “They just kept playing ahead. Bellefonte absolutely dominated us in the first half. We changed a few things around and halftime and we were able to adapt. We returned the pressure back on them.”

Bellefonte started the game with the early momentum.

They seemed to be a half a step faster than Bald Eagle Area.

After putting a constant pressure down in the Eagles’ end, Bellefonte finally found a hole in the defense and plastered a shot. That shot came from the foot of Dan Persiko. Persiko got open across the middle and slammed it just over the finger tips of Robinson.

Bald Eagle couldn’t get its offense going in a steady flow as Bellefonte kept most of the pressure down in Bald Eagles’ back-third.

“It was a take of two halves. I thought the first half we just absolutely dominated the game. We just couldn’t finish shots,” said Bellefonte coach Scott Martz. “In the second half, they came out more emotional and more ready to play than we were. They had us back on our heels. We couldn’t get our offense generated as well as we did in the first half. We just have to learn to finish shots.”

Coming into the second half, the Eagles cane out with a sense of urgency.

After an early Bellefonte shot, the Eagles started to pick up their intensity and changed the tempo of the game.

Bald Eagle had two early second half shots hit the goal posts but refused to let up.

As the clock wound down to under 20 minutes, Bellefonte still cling to the 1-0 advantage.

But minutes later, the tide would turn in favor of Bald Eagle.

A penalty call in the Bellefonte goal Area, had Eveleth staring down Herr for the penalty kick. Eveleth wasn’t going to be denied as he planted a screamer into net, tying it with 15:56 left.

From there, the game turned into a back-and-forth battle of runs.

With each team having its chances, it looked as if the game was going to go into an overtime period when the Eagles’ Zachary Grant found an open Eveleth and he sent it home with 29 ticks left on the clock.

With the win, Bald Eagle improves to 3-0 while Bellefonte fell to 1-3.

Bald Eagle Area 2, Bellefonte 1

BEA 0 2 – 2

BEL 1 0 – 1

First half

BEL – Dan Persiko unassisted, 16:45.

Second half

BEA – Shane Eveleth penalty kick, 15:56.

BEA – Eveleth from Zachary Grant, 0:29.

Shots on goal: BEA – 19. BEL-16.

Corners: BEA – 3. BEL – 5.

Saves:Conner Robinson (BEA)11, Harrison Herr (BEL) 7.

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