Bald Eagle boys soccer falls to Hollidaysburg at home
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WINGATE – On Tuesday evening, the feisty Bald Eagle boys soccer team went up against the high-octane play of visiting Hollidaysburg. The Golden Tigers sported a 9-2-2 record while the Eagles came into the contest at 7-4-3.
Despite the home field advantage at Alumni Field, Hollidaysburg's speed would be too much for Bald Eagle Area, as the Eagles fell by a score of 7-0.
"It’s always tough to be that far behind on a scoreboard, but honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of how the guys did. It’s sometimes a mental battle in the sport, and in a game where you can’t call timeouts, you can’t regroup all the time," Bald Eagle assistant coach Jared Gettig, who was filling in for Coach Jason Bair.
"Our guys really just hung in there and stayed together mentally. So, obviously, on the scoreboard, we came out on the wrong end of the stick. But I couldn’t be more proud of the guys."
Highlighting the night for Bald Eagle Area was its goal work.
Bald Eagle goalie Tanner Pearce stopped 18 shots in the contest while the Tigers' goalie Liam Jancula had four. Pearce would also come up and squish some transition shots to send Hollidaysburg back frustrated at times.
"I thought Tanner did really well with saving a lot of shots coming at him today. His hands were really solid. Throughout the season, he’s had a couple moments where we’ve been practicing some handling issues, but he looked really solid tonight, and honestly didn’t make any mistakes," said Gettig.
"He did everything we asked him to do, and even pulled out some great saves behind us. So, Tanner was probably one of the stars of the show for us on defense tonight, and some of the outside backs just one on one against some really tough, speedy players. They held their own for a long time, so really good work from the backs."
The Tigers would go right to work after the opening possession. Hollidaysburg had both its transition game and finesse, slow-down offense both working.
It would be Bryce Hollingshead's header in front of the goal that would slip past and notch the first goal of the game for the Golden Tigers at 36:05.
Despite Bald Eagle settling in on defense, the Tigers were at it again almost nine minutes later. This time, Hollingshead would pick up the assist as he found Devin Walters for a second Hollidaysburg header at 27:11.
The pressure continued on the Eagles' side of the field, where they continued to pound the ball to the goalie area. Four minutes after its second score, Hollidaysburg found the back of the net once again on an unassisted goal at the 23-minute mark, upping the score to 3-0.
As the half was winding down, the Tigers managed to push another goal in late. Max Buchanan's unassisted goal at 2:37 gave Hollidaysburg quite a cushion as the two teams went into the break.
Bald Eagle came of the break strong and drove the ball down the field, but he would continue to be stopped by the Tigers' tough back line of defense. And after putting pressure on the Hollidaysburg side, the Golden Tiger offense was at it again.
Hollingshead scored his second goal of the night as he hooked up on a pass from Caiden Galioto and sent it home at 30:20. Tyler Davis rounded out the individual scoring at 13:07 while the Eagles would have a shot deflect off on of their own players for an own goal, ending the game in a 7-0 victory.
Bald Eagle returns to action on Saturday, as it plays host to Bishop McCort