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Montoursville girls top Milton to advance to District 4 Class AA final

By Jon Gerardi 6 min read

Mackenzie Lopez drilled a shot just outside the 18-yard box and immediately turned and celebrated with teammate Alexis Beaver. It took just 70 seconds into the second half for the Black Panthers to strike, and the goal tied the game.

It was a big moment for Milton, but there was never a sense of worry or panic from Montoursville after the Black Panthers put in that equalizer. The Warriors just continued to play their game.

It may have taken a bit longer than Montoursville wanted, but the Warriors did finally break through.

Nyla Kutney had the ball down near the goal line and had a swarm of Milton defenders near her. That’s when she noticed teammate Lily Saul to the far side of the post. Kutney dished a perfect pass to her right to Saul, who was inside the 6. Saul quickly placed a great shot out of the reach of Mo Reiner for the go-ahead goal.

The goal came with seven minutes, 10 seconds to play, and Montoursville held on for an exciting 2-1 win in the District 4 Class AA semifinals at Loyalsock on Monday night.

“You don’t plan on giving up a goal in the first couple minutes of the second half, but it’s the same game plan: just to keep plugging away, playing your game and playing hard,” Montoursville coach Vic Gorini said. “Milton played really hard, really tough. They were really tough all over the field with speed and skill. I took everything we had to get the win today.”

With the win, Montoursville will face undefeated and state-ranked Central Columbia for the district championship on Thursday at a time and site to be determined. Montoursville is guaranteed a state tournament berth as well as both finalists move on. It’s the first state tournament appearance for the Warriors since 2016.

Montoursville out-shot Milton, 11-5, but the Black Panthers put pressure on Montoursville throughout the game.

The Warriors did a solid job forcing Milton to take shots deep. Both of Milton’s second-half shots on goal came from outside the 18.

“They’re pretty dangerous from quite a range, so we had to prepare for that and they put a lot of pressure on us,” Gorini said. “Playing those long balls past our back line made it a challenging night, but our girls kept dealing with it.”

After Saul’s go-ahead goal, Milton kept trying to once again put in a game-tying shot, but the Warriors didn’t make things easy for Milton. The Black Panthers’ best chance in the second half came when Janae Bergey lined up 40 yards out for a direct kick. She sent it high, trying to drop it in, but Montoursville goalie Anna Baylor caught it high to preserve the lead.

“When we got the equalizer that quick in (in the second half), I was like ‘OK, here we go.’ But it’s hard to hold onto, especially against a team like Montoursville,” Milton coach Rod Harris said. “My kids have (played until the end) all season long. They’ve never given up. They fought the whole way through no matter what’s going on.”

Milton played well trying to contain speedster Lily Saul. The senior forward didn’t get many breakaway chances as Milton defender Riley Murray was assigned to her and didn’t allow Saul to get many great looks at the goal.

“So Riley Murray, No. 8 in the back, that’s my speed and she did a really good job matchup up with Lily. Lily’s really fast, but so is Murray. So we tried to have one of our backs on Lily at all times not giving her space knowing she was going to beat the back once she got the ball to her foot and Murray was there to hopefully clean up the mess, and for the most part Murray shut her down most of the game,” Harris said.

“Lily Saul’s very good. When she gets up on turns, she’s coming at you. She dribbles through people,” Harris added.

Saul made an incredibly athletic play with just 2:50 left prior to halftime when she dove on a header, making contact as it went just high over the goal.

While Montoursville peppered Milton all game, Reiner played outstanding in goal to keep the game close.

“This is first year she’s truly played goalie and she’s insane,” Harris said. “She’s got cat-like reflexes, she sees the field amazingly, she reacts to ball every time it goes and she can catch everything. She is very, very good.”

This season marked the third playoff appearance in four years under Harris which came following five consecutive seasons of five or fewer wins. Harris helped change the culture at Milton and get the Black Panthers to become district contenders. It started with the Black Panthers’ players buying into what Harris and his coaching staff were instilling.

“We’re not the most skilled team, but we play really, really hard for 80 minutes. We’ve beaten teams we maybe shouldn’t have throughout the season, and we lost games we shouldn’t have throughout the season. But for us, it’s just playing together as one unit and really playing for each other,” Harris said. “We really, really stress there’s not any individuals out there. … It doesn’t matter who scores or who gets the assist, they all add up, and that’s the big thing for us.”

As for Montoursville, the Warriors and Gorini are more than happy to be heading to the state tournament for the first time since 2016.

“It really takes the pressure off and we can enjoy the game,” Gorini said. “We plan on just enjoying the district final game and giving it our all and know we’re playing another day no matter what happens.”

Montoursville has been battle tested this year and have played a number of outstanding opponents to prepare for districts. Central Columbia will be one of Montoursville’s toughest tests on Thursday.

The Blue Jays won the HAC-II title and went 20-0 by outscoring opponents, 88-14. The Blue Jays have four players with 11 or more goals in Hannah Bull (22), Jaicee Karaffa (13), Madelyn Blake 912) and Madison Whitesell (19). Blake has a team-high 19 assists and Paige Flaugh has 11.

The Warriors’ back line is solid, however, and will be up for the challenge of limiting Central Columbia’s shots. As for what Gorini is expecting in the final?

“We expect to be successful whenever we take the field, it’s just the mentality you got to have,” Gorini said. “We expect to give them a good challenge, play hard and expect a back-and-forth game. We’re pretty positive we can be successful.”

Montoursville 2, Milton 1

(District 4 Class AA semifinals)

Mo-Lydia Earnest, 29:39. Mi-Mackenzie Lopez, 38:50. Mo-Lily Saul (Nyla Kutney), 7:10.

Shots: Mi 5, Mo 11. Corners: Mi 6, Mo 7. Saves: Mi 8 (Mo Reiner), Mo 2 (Kierstyn Dawes 1, Anna Baylor 1).

Starting at /week.