Senior FORW/MF Carolyn Seibel (24) of Bellefonte High School Girl’s Soccer gets control of the ball before kicking it down the field during a high school girl’s soccer game against the Huntingdon High School Bearcats. Bellefonte won, 2-1. (The Express/Tim Weight)

BELLEFONTE — The Red Raiders had a lackluster first half and knew something had to change.

They trailed the Huntingdon Bearcats, 1-0, and were being out-worked on both sides of the ball. But rather than tear into her team during intermission, Bellefonte head coach Stacey Miller remained calm.

“We were just working on a few things as a team,” Miller said of Bellefonte’s halftime discussion. “We just went over some of the things that we’ve been working on. We talked about execution and executing in the second half.”

Bellefonte’s halftime adjustments paid off. They re-entered the field energized, recorded two early goals from Mallorie Smith and Madalyn Morelli to drop the Bearcats, 2-1.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit to find our intensity, and have urgency to the ball,” Miller said. “But I feel like in the second half we came out and that first goal gave us a little bit of energy to kind of keep pushing, and have that urgency that we really needed to have.”

Bellefonte’s offense began generating pressure early in the second half. After a pair of narrowly missed shots-on-goals, Mallorie Smith pierced Huntington’s defense for Bellefonte’s first score to even the game, 1-1, with 33:15 remaining in the contest.

Smith’s goal was her team-leading 12th of the season. The score was set up by an Addyson Manning assist following a free kick.

“Addy’s been sending beautiful balls on those free kicks, and we’ve just been shy on putting them in the back of the net,” Miller explained. “But tonight we were finally able to finish one.”

Bellefonte later grabbed the lead less than three minutes after Smith’s score. Madalyn Morelli launched a goal past Huntingdon’s goalkeeper to extend Bellefonte’s lead, 2-1, with 31:20 remaining in the game.

“I think it was Mallorie Smith who crossed the ball in,” Morelli explained of her goal. “It was up in the air and there was a defender on me. I went up to body the ball forward and ran into the defender. The ball went forward and I kind of just tapped it into the corner.”

Morelli’s fifth goal of the season clinched the game for the Red Raiders. The score highlighted a strong second half in which Bellefonte dominated on both sides of the ball. Bellefonte goalkeeper Cait Besch denied all of Huntingdon’s second-half shots and finished the game with nine saves.

“I think the first half started off slow, but I think we found our feet in the second half for sure,” Morelli said. “The first goal definitely motivated us and we worked really hard together as a team. We really wanted the win today and we went out there and got it.”

The win floated Bellefonte’s record to the .500 mark for the second time this season. They rest at 4-4 and won three of their last four games.

Bellefonte has outscored its last four opponents, Central, Tyrone, Clearfield and Huntingdon by a combined score of 13-7.

“I think the last couple of games have been going well,” Morelli said. “We are a pretty young team, but we’re really combining well and we’re working hard together to find our feet on the field, create passes and connect passes so we can get goals and win games.

Bellefonte returns today in a 4 p.m. home contest against the Altoona Mountain Lions.

“When you look at some of the stats with some of the teams that we’ve shared opponents with, we pretty much have similar scores,” Bellefonte coach Stacey Miller said of the matchup. “So I think it’s going to be a very tough game for us.”

HT 1 0-1

BF 0 2-2

Scoring Summary

1st Half

HT Greta Staley goal. HT leads 1-0, 17:10 remaining

2nd Half

BF Mallorie Smith goal (assisted by Addyson Manning). Game tied 1-1, 33:15 remaining.

BF Madalyn Morelli goal. BF leads 2-1, 31:20 remaining.

Team Stats

Shots-on-Goal

BF 6, HT 10

Saves

BF Cait Besch (9), HT Mallory Woodward (4)

Corner Kicks

BF 1, HT 5

Direct Kicks

BF 6, HT 1