Montgomery goalie Addi Muhl put on a bit of a clinic in goal, and did everything possible to help keep Montgomery stay in the game. The Red Raiders trailed just 2-0 at the half, and were down just 3-0 before two late goals by Muncy within the final 65 seconds made it a five-goal deficit.

Watching Muhl compete in goal gives you a look into her work ethic and why she’s such a competitor. It’s in her DNA, and it’s something first-year coach Hannah Lounsbury is more than happy to see game in and game out.

“Addi is one of our biggest team moms I would say. She’s the glue that holds us together. She made so much progress from the summer,” Lounsbury said. “She puts in so much work in the weight room all summer by herself. Every single day she’s first one to practice. She truly wants it and I think that’s the kind of drive that she has isn’t something you learn. She’s just a natural competitor and she deserves every amount of credit she’s given.”

DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Addi Muhl of Montgomery makes a save against Muncy during Thursday’s game.

That competitive drive that Muhl has could be seen on Thursday. The keeper made numerous diving stops and had a highlight-reel block late in the second half when she leapt and caught the ball one-handed behind her head to deny Muncy standout Ava Eyer a goal.

Muhl ended Thursday’s game with 15 saves. Muncy fired 44 shots on Thursday, 23 of which were on goal and three of those hit off the crossbar.

“She’s my captain, she relays almost every message for me to the girls. She makes sure they get hyped up at school, team spirit, wearing their uniforms,” Lounsbury said. “She definitely makes sure everyone knows what their job is on the field. She’s the first to gather them in the middle before we start. I’d definitely say it’s contagious.”

That’s the type of player any team wants to have, and for Lounsbury and the Red Raiders, it’s dedication that can help get the program where Lounsbury wants it to be. When Lounsbury took over as coach this past summer, she brought experience with her having played at Lycoming College for the women’s soccer team. Lounsbury knows that Montgomery can’t transform into a playoff contender overnight. It will take time, but the pieces are there for Montgomery.

“We’re hoping as younger girls continue to grow, they’ll have years with each other to help sort of build that soccer IQ,” Lounsbury said. “It takes a long time to build a team up with that sort of thing. But I’m definitely lucky to come into a program with people who are willing to learn and get better.”

Ava Eyer of Muncy takes a shot against Montgomery in Muncy. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Lounsbury has seen that that growth from just late July to now. In just a roughly two-month span, she’s seen the team progress and get better practice after practice.

“They had a really strong foundation coming in and working as a team and knowing each other and being friends. It was such an important part of soccer,” Lounsbury said. “It was really nice for me to come in and work on play style. I played college soccer, so just incorporating some of those things I learned when I played. Just building their soccer knowledge. They already had down the team community aspect, so it was really helpful coming in.”

The culture is already slowly starting to change for the better. Montgomery entered Thursday with three wins, already matching last year’s win total. Montgomery hasn’t won more than three games since going 7-11 in 2018. Lounsbury already has the Red Raiders at the three-win mark just six games into the season.

“Us and the girls had no expectation other than we knew we’d come out and fight until the end every single time. I honestly think they surprised themselves at some points because they were so focused on making sure we had that strong foundation that the goals just came,” Lounsbury said. “I do think it can be a challenge, because we have a lot of hard teams coming into the season like moving toward the end of season … but I think it’s good for us. We need to play harder teams to get better.”

Lounsbury has the Red Raiders on the right track and the only place to go for Montgomery is up.

SCORING BY COMMITTEE

Muncy’s girls soccer team has a fairly young team this season. The Indians graduated a handful of players, notably Emilie Nagel, who was a standout last year in the scoring and assist department. But Muncy has players who can score.

Thursday proved that against Montgomery.

The Indians had four players score in Thursday’s 5-0 win over Mid-Penn rival Montgomery as Alexis McKeta, Ella Nagel, Ava Eyer and Amelia Beckman found the back of the net.

Muncy coach Jason Gresh is glad to see his team spreading it around early, and knows it’ll pay dividends when October rolls around.

“Oh absolutely. The finishes will come. We hit four off the crossbar, that’s crazy. Those were good. The keeper had two really, really nice saves (too),” Gresh said. “It also gives us hope that as we move forward, things will continue to get better and better.”

There isn’t one player who the offense runs through. Rather, it’s scoring by committee.

“That’s a little different this year. We’ve been doing that every game, it’s not one person. Everybody contributes,” Gresh noted. “We’re pretty young, we only started two seniors tonight (vs. Montgomery). So we’re starting to still try and figure this out and you know, it’s good for them all to get a little taste of the offense and to score and to stay hungry for goals.”

So far this year, Muncy’s offense has consisted of six players who have found the back of the net, giving the Indians the ability to spread the ball around up top.

A GREAT TEST

Bryan Pauling knew entering Saturday morning’s game against Milton that the Black Panthers were likely the toughest team they’ve faced so far this year through seven games. The Warriors entered Saturday’s game 6-0, but Milton was going to be a hard team to play against.

Milton defeated Montoursville, 3-1, giving Montoursville its first loss of the year. But for Pauling, he knows it was a needed test as Central Columbia looms on the schedule today.

“We had a pretty good record coming in, we played some pretty inconsistent teams though, so this was a chance to really see what we felt was a solid team. We did have a really good game against Southern and Danville, but we knew Milton would be the strongest of the ones we saw so far,” Pauling said. “We have Central coming Tuesday, so this is a good prep for that to get a sense where we’re making mistakes and what we have to do to try to hang with Central, who’s on top right now.”

Central Columbia is the top of the top of District 4 Class AA currently as the Blue Jays have outscored its opponents 43-3 through nine games and are cruising along against every opponent they line up against.

Pauling and his Warriors are glad to have started 6-0, however. It’s one of Montoursville’s best starts in recent history.

“I think for us it’s not something we’re used to and I think the kids were riding that high for awhile and that’s good,” Pauling said. “We knew some of that was just the result of the schedule.”

OFFSEASON PAYING

DIVIDENDS

Milton’s win against Montoursville on Saturday morning — a 3-1 victory over the Warriors — moved the Black Panthers to 4-2-1 this year. The Black Panthers have become accustomed to successful runs the last few years.

The Black Panthers have won at least 12 games each of the last five seasons and went 16-3 last year, tying the school record for most wins in a single season. Milton is building off that success as they’re above the .500 mark seven games in.

And for the Black Panthers, that success is attributed to the early offseason workouts and practices.

“The offseason is definitely a big thing. A lot of these guys came out and worked hard, put in multiple days a week all throughout the summer and keeping that going as far as in-season,” Milton assistant coach Aidan Welch said. “It’s tough when you have two, three games a week and you can’t get as many practices and keeping guys healthy. We just try to go through the technical stuff we have to do and make sure we’re staying in shape and staying healthy.”

Milton has playmakers up top, but its defense has played well the last few games. Milton limited a Montoursville team with plenty of scorers to one goal, and held perennially talented district title contender Midd-West to just one goal in double overtime.

“Our guys in the back are solid. We have to keep the ball in front of us, we did a pretty good job of that (vs. Montoursville), keeping heads on and not letting guys turn,” Welch said. “It’s really nice for our keeper when he doesn’t have to see as many shots and I think our defense did a great job of that. We have some speed in the back and guys who are ready to go after it and come off the line and attack the offense and not give them many open looks.”

Jon Gerardi is the sports editor at the Sun-Gazette and covers high school soccer. He can be reached at jgerardi@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JonGerardi.

JON GERARDI’S TOP 5 SOCCER RANKINGS

BOYS SOCCER

1. LEWISBURG (6-1): The Green Dragons blanked Jersey Shore this past week to move to 5-1, before blanking State College, 4-0, the third consecutive shutout for the Green Dragons. Lewisburg’s defense is always outstanding year in and year out, and 2024 is no exception. So far through six games, Lewisburg has allowed just two goals.

2. MILTON (4-2-1): The Black Panthers struck just a minute, 20 seconds into Saturday’s game with Montoursville and Milton played outstanding all-around. Defensively, Milton didn’t allow Montoursville to get much going and prevented throughball opportunities. Offensively, Milton played great crosses and shots to score its three goals.

3. WELLSBORO (7-1): After falling to Milton in overtime, 2-1, Wellsboro responded with a 3-1 win over Williamson and an 8-2 rout against Troy to pick up win No. 7 and inch closer to clinching another District 4 berth.

4. MONTOURSVILLE (6-1): Montoursville suffered its first loss fo the year to a really talented Milton team on Saturday, 3-1. Montoursville played well against the Black Panthers, and didn’t allow Milton to get easy looks at the goal. Bryan Pauling knew that Milton would be a great tune-up for Central Columbia this week as well, as the Blue Jays seem to be in a league of their own currently.

t-5. WILLIAMSPORT (3-3): What a game fans in Mill Hall got to see on Thursday night. Central Mountain held a 2-1 lead. before the Millionaires rallied with back-to-back goals in the final 10 minutes to secure the win. Williamsport has a fun team to watch and can make games exciting at any moment.

t-5. SULLIVAN COUNTY (5-2): The Griffins are a quiet 5-2 and are somewhat flying under the radar. Sullivan County is riding a three-game win streak and are playing well. After back-to-back losses, the Griffins responded with a double-overtime win against Muncy (3-2), a shutout win over Troy (2-0) and blanked South Williamsport (3-0).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK — Brayden Ungard, Williamsport

Williamsport was trailing Central Mountain 2-1 with 10 minutes remaining in the game. That’s when Brayden Ungard stepped up and took control. The Millionaire scored twice in a five-minute span, including the go-ahead game-winner with less than four minutes remaining, to give Williamsport an exciting 3-2 comeback win over Central Mountain to move the Millionaires to .500.

GIRLS SOCCER

1. SOUTH (6-0-1): South Williamsport has been rolling early and making winning look easy. The Mounties have played just seven games so far, and South Williamsport junior Ella Moore is already running away with the area scoring title as she has 18 so far, nine more than the next area scorer. Moore, Olivia Loudenslager and Abby Akers form a potent three-headed monster offensively as that trio has combined for 28 goals and 19 assists.

2. MILTON (5-0-1): Milton can put up goals — that was evident with a 15-goal performance on Wednesday — but the Black Panthers’ defense is just as solid as its offense. Milton has allowed just two goals in its last five games: one to Mifflinburg and one to Montoursville.

3. HUGHESVILLE (3-1): Soccer fans got a treat on Wednesday when the Spartans hosted Montoursville and defeated the Warriors, 2-0. Don’t let Montoursville’s record fool you, the Warriors are a solid team and gave Hughesville a game, and the Spartans responded well in the game to secure the victory.

4. WARRIOR RUN (6-1): The Defenders are living up to their nickname as Warrior Run’s defense has allowed just five goals through six games so far this season. And three of those goals came to Shikellamy in a 3-0 loss. Since then, the Defenders are riding a three-game winning streak.

5. MUNCY (5-1): Muncy saw four players score in the Indians’ 5-0 win over rival Montgomery in a Mid-Penn contest last Thursday, and Muncy has won three in a row after a season-opening loss to Troy on the road. Muncy has a tough road coming up, however, with games against South Williamsport, Millville and Hughesville coming up.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK — Addi Gresh, Muncy and Bailey Gavitt, Hughesville

Gresh came up big this past week for Muncy as she posted three consecutive shutouts. Gresh recorded five saves in a 5-0 win over Montgomery, four in a 1-0 win over Williamson and one in a combined shutout performance in goal with Eva Nagel in a 4-0 win vs. Elk Lake. Gavitt recorded a solid effort with three saves against a solid Montoursville team and then had a save in a 4-0 win over Wellsboro to post back-to-back shutouts for Hughesville. Both defenses for the Indians and Spartans played great as well, helping Gresh and Gavitt record shutouts.