MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Montoursville players celebrate with each other after defeating Loyalsock in the District 4 Class AA championship at Balls Mills Soccer Club. The Warriors edged the Lancers, 2-1.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third part of a five-part series revealing the best girls soccer games of the 2010s.

Just nine games remain on the list of the decade’s greatest girls soccer games.

Montoursville has one of the district’s best soccer program’s since the 2000s, so it’s no surprise the Warriors have two classic games on this next installment of this list, including a dramatic game against crosstown rival Loyalsock.

So sit back and take a look at Nos. 9-7 in the countdown.

9.) Montoursville 5, Midd-West 4 (SO), 2014 District 4 Class AA semifinals

After this game ended, Montoursville coach Vic Gorini bluntly stated that he knew Midd-West would give Montoursville a tough game. That’s precisely what happened.

Montoursville and Midd-West played 40 minutes of scoreless soccer in the first half before Midd-West’s Makenzie Kauffman scored the first goal in the 53rd minute. Montoursville kept at it and eventually, put in an equalizer thanks to the foot of Kirsten O’Malley.

Neither team could sneak in a goal in either overtime period and this great game got even better as it was forced to go to a shootout.

The Mustangs fired 11 shots on goal, as did Montoursville, and Marissa Folk and Marlene Bassett both played well in goal, especially given the Mustangs featured future Penn State commit Kelli Beiler at forward, one of the district’s best players during her four-year career.

Lexi Marchioni was the hero of this game, as she scored the game-winning penalty kick for the Warriors, sending it to the bottom left corner.

“We have stressed mental toughness a lot,” Gorini said. “We put a lot of months into this season, and I knew they would be able to hang in there and gut it out.”

The 2014 Montoursville team was a solid group. After losing Carly Mill to an injury in the opening Burke tournament, Montoursville had others step up, especially O’Malley. The Warriors finished the season 19-2-1 as the senior class finished 73-9-5.

The shootout against Midd-West helped Montoursville confidence-wise and led to a 2-0 win over Lewisburg in the district championship game before falling to Dallas in the first round of the state tournament, 1-0.

8.) Montoursville 2, Loyalsock 1, 2016 District 4 Class AA championship

You didn’t think Montoursville vs. Loyalsock would only be on this list once did you?

In 2016, these two rivals put on a game for the ages with a packed crowd at the Balls Mills Soccer Club. The Lancers were looking to win their first district championship since 2012 and had back a ton of players from its 2015 state runner-up team, including speedy forwards Myriah Saar and Rhiallie Jessell.

Conversely, you had a Montoursville team that was had won two district titles in the previous three seasons and was looking to make it three out of four.

Both teams had excellent goalies in Marlene Bassett (Montoursville) and Grace Schreckengast (Loyalsock). The Warriors featured an all-state player in Gillian Mitchell who was just a beast in the midfield.

Add it all together, and you have an all-time great game for a district championship.

This one had fans on the edge of their seat with just seconds later. Montoursville thought it had the game won, only to see an official pull a late yellow card with 12 seconds left, giving Loyalsock one last gasp to try to tie the game, trailing by a goal.

Ultimately, the Warriors’ backline came up clutch by swarming the ball as Ana Barone received it just inside the 18 to preserve the win and keep Montoursville undefeated at 20-0.

“There’s a bar set high every year. We come in and there’s high expectations. This group of seniors has three district titles, which is phenomenal to say the least,” Montoursville coach Vic Gorini said.

Ashlynn McQuillen scored the first goal for Montoursville with 29 minutes remaining in the first half, sneaking it inside the right post on a pass from Mitchell.

Rhiallie Jessell then tied it up with a goal for the Lancers with 16:36 remaining in the half.

While there were three goals scored, both defenses made it difficult for the opposition. Loyalsock and Montoursville each fired just four shots each, having to pick perfect moments to try and get in a shot as neither defense was yielding great looks.

Both teams had excellent defenses that year, so it’s no surprise that this game was ultimately a defensive battle in that regard.

“They kept plugging away, we had some unfortunate fouls called on us up near box that were very threatening, but they hung in there and got it done,” Gorini said.

7.) Warrior Run 3, Springdale 1, 2011 PIAA Class A championship

Warrior Run entered the 2011 season with extremely high expectations from many. The team was coming off the program’s first state championship after defeating Sewickley Academy the November prior and the team was returning its entire starting 11.

Those expectations culiminated on November 19, 2011, when Warrior Run found itself right back at Hersheypark Stadium playing Springdale for a chance to win back-to-back state titles.

Warrior Run had a target on its back that entire season and only lost twice all year. It never lost sight of its goal of repeating and it resulted in a 3-1 win against Springdale for the title.

“I can’t believe we got here and did it again,” Warrior Run senior Mariah Campbell said after that game. “It’s nuts.”

It was nuts indeed, Mariah.

The Defenders became the first team to repeat that year since Conestoga did so in 2007-08 in Class AAA.

Warrior Run scored on its very first shot that game when Taylor Landis scored 3 minutes, 30 seconds into the contest. Landis ended the game with two goals and Campbell scored as well.

The Defenders had set the bar high the year prior by winning the program’s first state championship and in 2011, they put it just a little bit higher. To date, Warrior Run is the only school in District 4 history to ever win repeat titles in girls soccer.