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Milton girls soccer defeats Hughesville in District 4 Class AA playoffs

By GARRETT CARR 4 min read

With under a minute to play in the first half and Milton leading by two goals, Hughesville had a golden opportunity. A Black Panther foul 22 yards from goal in the middle of the field was in the sweet spot for a great free kick taker.

Milton goalkeeper Mo Reiner set her wall to guard her left side of her goal as Hughesville's Sophia Clark stepped up to hit the free kick, and hit it well, around the wall to Reiner's left, the ball seemingly destined for the side netting.

That is, until Reiner parried it away at full stretch, preserving the 2-0 lead and the momentum for Milton, as they went on to win 3-1 in Saturday's District 4 class AA quarterfinal at Loyalsock.

"In practice we work on how many I want and where I want them (in the wall)." Reiner said. "I had the two players at the end of the wall step off a bit so I could see the ball and I just saw her kick it to that side and I went and got it."

Reiner, who is playing in goal for the first time this season, looks like someone who has played there her whole life. She denied Clark later in the second half on a similarly great chance, this time from point blank range and showed her skills she uses as a midfielder during her club season with her distribution. It was a complete performance from the keeper.

"I can't say enough about Mo," Milton coach Rod Harris said. "She sees the ball so well and reacts so quickly."

Reiner wasn't the only Panther to shine on Saturday as they got contributions up and down the lineup.

It looked like Milton would score in the first three minutes as Mackenzie Lopez rounded the Spartan keeper and looked sure to score, only to send it high and wide of the goal.

It wouldn't take the Panther attack long to make up for it, though, as Janae Bergey got a breakaway just a few minutes later and sent a rocket across the face of goal and scored in the upper left corner to put Milton up 1-0 with 34:33 remaining in the first half.

"It was really important (to get that early lead)," Bergey said. "I really wanted to get that one in and I had a nice finish."

Lopez would redeem herself later in the first half when she got behind the Spartan defense and slotted one past the keeper near post to put Milton up 2-0 with 19:57 remaining in the first half.

"I saw the keeper come out and noticed she doesn't jump up very well, so I shot high and got lucky that it went in," Lopez said.

Using the momentum that Reiner's sensational stop at the end of the first half gave them, Milton came out on the front foot in the second half and Leah Walter found the back of the net with a well-hit shot that beat the Spartan keeper at the near post to make it 3-0 with exactly thirty-six minutes left in the game.

Hughesville would get one back as Libby Fortin scored off a deflection in front of the net with twelve minutes remaining. Just a few minutes later, the second great Reiner save happened at a crucial moment when it looked like Hughesville was about to make what looked like a runaway Milton win into a nail biting last few minutes.

Milton 3, Hughesville 1

District 4 Class AA quarterfinals

M--Janae Bergey, 5:19. M--Mackenzie Lopez, 20:07. M--Leah Walter, 44:00. H--Liz Fortin, 67:51.

Shots: H 8, M 3. Corners: H 9, M 1. Saves: H 0 (Lilli Krause), M 7 (Mo Reiner).

Starting at /week.