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Wellsboro defeats South thanks to a 4-goal second half

It was a goal that just about everybody at the game couldn’t believe was scored. Even Wellsboro coach John Shaffer was amazed when he saw it go in.

With the ball down near the goal line, Wellsboro’s Nolan Lohr didn’t have much of an angle to put the ball in and had to place it just about as perfectly as he could in order to score.

Lohr did just that.

The Wellsboro senior midfielder drilled a perfect shot from the goal line that curved just as needed to send it into the goal to give Wellsboro a two-goal lead and from there, the momentum stayed with Wellsboro.

The goal helped spark the Green Hornets again in the second half in a 6-1 win over South Williamsport in boys soccer to open the season for both teams on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

“Very nice to start our year off wtih a win. You get the jitters out even though you scrimmaged,” Shaffer said. “You come down here and play a good team in South Williamsport, a team from the lower part of the district, and so very positive result.”

After scoring twice in a five-minute span, South Williamsport responded with a goal of its own just before the half.

With 3:47 to play, a few great passes and opening allowed South’s Curtis Sauers to score from just outside the goal box off an assist by Caleb Snyder to cut Wellsboro’s lead to just 2-1.

The Mounties had a great chance in the closing seconds of the first half when Sauers tried to send a pass from inside the 18 to Snyder, but Wellsboor goalie Nate Redell grabbed it before any shot could be attempted.

But once Lohr scored in the second half with 22:48 to play, it sparked Wellsboro again and shifted the momentum back to the Green Hornets.

“At halftime we talked about getting the momentum back, getting on the ball, passing it, pressing it defensively. We started to dominate at the start of the second half,” Shaffer said. “We scored a crazy goal from a narrow angle and getting a goal as a result of that pressure flipped the momentum. We kept pressure on them and got second and third in the second half and found a way to put the game away. Just a result of us trying to put pressure on them.”

The Mounties only managed one shot on goal the entire game and didn’t have any shots at all in the second half.

“I think after waking up after 10 minutes from those two early goals we played some great soccer for 50 minutes, 55 minutes until about the third goal,” South Williamsport coach Chris Vanaskie said. “Those first three goals were all unstoppable goals and unfortunately they took wind out of our sails and we couldn’t recover.”

“I think we’re pretty young and we’re still getting used to speed of game. Second half they definitely had that speed on our heels,” Vanaskie added. “Dealing with defense more, trying to focus on keeping them up, a lot of our man power is going to defense and not enough focus on attacking, unfortunately.”

After Lohr’s perfectly-aimed shot, Wellsboro scored three more goals in a three-minute span as Cameron Tennis, Brett Rudy and Lohr all scored. Tennis scored his off a great header attempt off a Gabe Leach corner kick to make it a 4-1 lead.

Tanner Runyan got things started for Wellsboro, scoring five minutes into the game for an early 1-0 lead. It was then Leach who scored five minutes later to give Wellsboro a 2-0 lead just 10 minutes in.

“They’re very, very well organized in the back. It took a great combination of passes and finish for us to get a goal on them and that just shows how well they’re organized back there,” Vanaskie said.

Wellsboro 6,

South Williamsport 1

W–Tanner Runyan (Gabe Leach), 35:40. W–Leach (Runyan), 30:26. SW–Curtis Sauers (Caleb Snyder), 3:47. W–Nolan Lohr, 22:48. W–Cameron Tennis (Leach corner), 18:48. W–Brett Rudy (Leach), 17:57. W–Lohr (Rudy), 15:52.

Shots: W 10, SW 1. Corners: W 12, SW 3. Saves: W (Nate Redell) 0, SW Jared Wheeland) 4.

Records: Wellsboro (1-0), South (0-1).

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