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No. 4 Williamsport girls soccer edges No. 5 Hazleton, 2-1 in District 2-4 AAAA quarterfinal

By Evan Wheaton 4 min read

For the past five years, No. 4 Williamsport girls soccer has had a handle on the region, hoisting the District 2-4 Class AAAA plaque for the past half decade.

The pursuit to notch a sixth consecutive title is still alive after the Millionaires defeated No. 5 Hazleton, 2-1 in the quarterfinal round at the Balls Mills Soccer Club Tuesday.

With the win, Williamsport will play No. 1 Delaware Valley at 5 p.m. on Thursday in the District 2-4 Class AAAA semifinal.

"It's really amazing. We've been working together since like forever, so it's nice to get to do it together as a team," Millionaires midfielder Kailee Helmrich said. "There's eight of us seniors, so it's nice that we all get to work together going for that six-peat."

Helmrich was fed a pass from Sarina Beiter near the corner and took a point-blank shot that found the back of the net in the 36th minute, giving Williamsport a two-goal lead.

Mallory Pardoe initially put the Millionaires on the board by heading in the ball off a corner kick from Matison Cramer 18 minutes prior.

"We just had to keep going to the corner. They couldn't really stop us, we would swarm the corner and get some balls in," Helmrich said. "We got a nice corner kick that came from the right end, goal. Another cross and another goal. We're just really good at going to the corner and sending the ball across."

The first half was largely in Williamsport's control, and Helmrich's goal kept the Millionaires' heads up as they walked off the field during the break.

"It gave us a lot of momentum. We were really pushing it, we tried to come out and score another one," Helmrich said. "It didn't happen, but that's fine. We're going to just take that momentum to the next game."

Adelia Engel (five saves) came up with a stop in between the pipes for Williamsport less than 30 seconds into the second half. From there, the Cougars kept getting longer possessions and created more opportunities.

The tides turned in favor of Hazleton's offense, and the Millionaires were getting a bigger test from the Cougars' strikers.

"We played like the game was over at 2-nothing, and I knew it wasn't. We tried to come out the first seven or eight minutes of the second half and put a goal in, especially when we're in the lead like that. And then their heads go down, it's 3-nothing, and we didn't," Williamsport coach Scott McNeill said. "We came out and thought the game was over and played more sloppy and sloppy."

The calls on the field were also well in favor of Hazleton as well, much to the Millionaires' displeasure. Hazleton also had five corner kick attempts to Williamsport's lone scoring corner kick.

"Referees made some terrible calls, Miah (Jones) should've had a PK being clocked in the penalty box, and they did not call it," McNeill said.

With 11 minutes left in the game, sophomore forward Ella Schneider cut Hazleton's deficit in half after finding separation in the box and sending the ball top shelf in the net.

The Cougars continued to apply pressure offensively, unable to net any more for their efforts, but constantly peppered the Millionaires. For Williamsport, which returned a solid back line this year with veteran players, it’s been a challenge for the team to manage its defense after being plagued with injuries.

The Millionaires have switched up formations all season, but even in the first playoff game, it's still a work in progress for Williamsport.

"I expected a few players to come work out over the summer and be ready to play and it's just been, with the injuries and especially with Mataya (Deitrick) missing just about the whole season, it's been very difficult," McNeill said. "We've given up a lot of goals because of it."

Gianna Barilla came up with seven saves inside the posts for the Cougars.

"We're in the same spot we were last year. We were the four-seed, they were the one-seed. We have to show up and play. We're much better than what we showed tonight and we're lucky to get the win," McNeill said. "I told the other coach Jimmy (Paisley), who I have a lot of respect for, 'You guys came out and hammered us in the second half.'"

Williamsport 2, Hazleton 1

(District 2-4 Class AAAA quarterfinal)

Wil-Mallory Pardoe (Matison Cramer), 18; Wil-Kailee Helmrich (Sarina Beiter), 36; Haz-Ella Schneider, 69.

Shots: Wil, 9, Haz, 6. Corners: Wil, 1, Haz, 5. Saves: Wil, (Adelia Engel), Haz, 7 (Gianna Barilla).

Starting at /week.