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Jon Gerardi on soccer: Class A field will be loaded with talented teams in girls soccer this postseason

By Jon Gerardi 13 min read

The playoffs are still quite awhile off, although it will be late October before we know it. But regardless, one thing is already for certain: District 4 Class A girls are going to be an absolute gauntlet to battle through regardless of how teams line up in the field.

Nineteen teams make up the Class A field and while not all 19 will qualify, there's going to be a lot of talented teams in the field. Warrior Run, Loyalsock, Bloomsburg and notably Hughesville all dropped to Class A this year after being in Class AA last year.

Hughesville and Warrior Run were both District 4 Class AA semifinalists last year. Muncy, South Williamsport and Southern Columbia all reached last year's District 4 Class A semifinals.

All of them likely will be back in the postseason once again, battling it out in an absolutely ridiculously talented group.

If you aren't battle tested by the time districts begin, you will be if you get through it.

"Class A is going to be ridiculous this year," Muncy coach Jason Gresh said. "That's a gauntlet. I think that there's a good chance you're going to see 10, 11, 12 teams in the playoffs. So you're going to have a longer tournament, which will change things and will just matter with how things fall in the seeding. It's going to be interesting for the next couple of years for sure."

It's a sentiment Hughesville girls coach Cody Hack echoes.

"Oh my gosh, there's 19 teams I think in single A now. I mean, that October's gonna be crazy. Hopefully we're all there," Hack said. "I keep telling these coaches 'I hope to see you in a little bit.' It's fun. I love the competition. I love that we just get a chance to play under the lights.

"But 19 teams?" Hack continued. "My gosh, that's gonna be a dog fight. We're here for it, we're ready and whatever the result is, we just wanna play."

That many good teams in the Class A field means there likely will be a lot of quarterfinal matchups that would be good finals any other year.

It's going to be one fun tournament once October rolls around. Be prepared for some fun soccer in Class A competition.

A TOUGH SCHEDULE

Speaking of a gauntlet, Muncy's girls soccer did have to go through that recently, and do so while beat up and injured. The Indians played six games in 10 days and are without a lot of pieces on the field.

But Gresh and Muncy are doing their best to get through it how they can and get rest.

"If we can come out of this healthy in the next week and get rested up, rest and recoup, the positives are the game looks slow compared to teams we were playing. There’s still some big schools (to play against), but the game's much slower. That's a good thing for us, right?" Gresh said. "It's almost a trial by fire. We threw the young ones in and we moved them to some different positions. You're not thrilled with your record, but at the same time you feel you're battle-tested a little more than you would be if we had six cupcakes and we're 6-0. I don't think that really helps us either. Does that really show anything?"

Muncy is 1-4-1 entering Tuesday, but the Indians' younger players know what they have to do to improve and once some injured players get back into the lineup, good things should come.

The Indians have seen Hailey Ganoe playing in goal, taking over for the still-hurt Eva Nagel, a standout keeper who garnered all-star honors last fall. Nagel played on the back line against Montgomery last week, getting time on the field.

"God bless her," Gresh said of Ganoe. "She kind of got thrown in. She got very few reps in the preseason. Eva's banged up, hopefully she's back here soon in goal. She's playing in the field so we can get her back in. She's still banged up from last postseason which we're still fighting through. Hailey didn't get very many reps. ... I know she hurts and I know that she's been working her butt off to get better. She really looked good tonight (against Montgomery). She moved well, she was out on the ball and was taking care of the net like she should."

SPEAKING OF GOALIES

While we're on the subject of goalkeepers playing well, Montgomery has seen a lot of great goalie play from Addison Greger so far this fall. The Red Raider came up big against Muncy in a 1-1 draw last week as she recorded eight saves and didn't let up a goal from the course of play, the only goal coming on a penalty kick.

"Addi's really honestly been the rock of our team this whole season I would say. She's saved us more times than we'd like to admit," Montgomery coach Hannah Summerson said with a laugh. "She's just relentless back there. She never takes her eyes off the ball. She gets up, gets back down in an instant. She really brings confidence. ... She brings a level of seriousness to the team that they need at the start of each game. Without her, this would be a totally different season. We're so thankful to have her in goal this year."

In the six games she's played, Greger has recorded 32 saves and has averaged 5.3 per game so far as Montgomery is 3-2-1.

And Summerson is glad of the team's success being above .500 six games into the year early on.

"I think just having the mentality that we can do it and just try to really instill that. Especially in the girls program. Myself going through high school, and college sports, that camaraderie and confidence is really just important to instill in female sports," Summerson said. "I feel it's totally different than coaching men. just letting them know they can do this and they have the tools and the practice to execute a good season. I think making sure they know that going into each game and trying to build them up, capitalize on their wins and try to forget the losses, too."

JOINING FORMER GREATS

Lewisburg keeper Gabe Pawling established himself the past two seasons as a superb keeper and one of the best within District 4. But he keeps etching his name in the record books at Lewisburg and continues to show why he's such a great goalie.

With a 2-0 win over State College on Saturday, Pawling recorded his 45th career shutout. It moved him to third all-time in Lewisburg history, surpassing former standout Tony Burns (2019-21) who had 44 career shutouts. Pawling is now behind only Lewisburg greats Logan Cho (60 shutouts from 2012-15) and Chrisitan Gallager (51 shutouts from 2008-11). Cho's 60 shutouts is also the state record for most for a boys keeper all-time in PIAA history.

Lewisburg has had a great run of outstanding keepers since Gallagher's freshman season and Pawling is the latest in that line of goalies.

PROVIDING LEADERSHIP

Warrior Run's girls soccer team is sitting with a 4-1 record early in the year and has played well in all facets.

Offensively, Warrior Run has put up 16 goals and defensively, the Defenders have allowed just five. The only loss the Defenders suffered so far was a tough 3-2 setback to Hughesville last week in which the Spartans rallied and scored three second-half goals to overcome a 2-0 deficit at the break.

But the key to Warrior Run's success and record so far boils down to the seniors helping provide a leadership role to the younger players on the roster and building off last year's semifinal appearance in districts.

"I think our seniors (are key)," Warrior Run coach Rob Ryder said. "We have Nat (Hall) and Scarlett (Dunkleberger) and of course Lexi (Swartchick) is hurt, so she's out. That was a big loss for us, but we just have a nice senior class that's kind of leftover from that team last year that helped guide some of the younger players."

Those seniors are helping spark the team as Dunkleberger has a team-high four goals through five games and Hall has three goals and two assists.

But the younger players are stepping up and helping as Abigail Bastian (freshman) has three goals and one assist, Lacey Betz (sophomore) has two goals and three assists and Alexis Snyder (sophomore) has a goal scored.

"We have some good young talent coming up," Ryder said. "There's Abby Bastian, she came out of nowhere scoring two goals (vs. Hughesville) and capitalizing. Regan Brouse had a pretty decent game tonight (vs. Hughesville). Reese Bingaman really stepped up and had a great game. So we had a lot of people just really step up. Lacey Betz, she runs the center and she runs hard."

Wrap it all together, and Warrior Run has a solid team of upperclassmen leading the way, and underclassmen taking it in and learning.

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

JON GERARDI’S TOP 5 RANKINGS

BOYS SOCCER

1. Lewisburg (4-1): Lewisburg blanked a good three-win State College team on Saturday with a goal in each half to improve to 4-1, the Green Dragons' fourth consecutive win after a season-opening loss. The Green Dragons are playing great in all aspects, and are spreading the ball around offensively. Lewisburg has played five games so far this year and has 10 players who have found the back of the net, six of whom have scored at least two goals.

2. Williamsport (4-1): The Millionaires held off Crestwood on Saturday for an exciting 2-1 win to move to 4-1 early in the season. It's the second straight victory by a goal after a 1-0 shutout earlier in the week to Central Mountain. The Millionaires are showing they can win close games, which is beneficial in the long run when playoffs roll around and the room for error is minimum.

3. Loyalsock (3-2): After a tough 7-1 loss to Central Columbia, the Lancers have rattled off back-to-back wins to move above .500 by beating MIfflinburg, 4-1, and Troy, 7-0. The Lancers have a tough stretch coming up with games against Southern Columbia, Warrior Run, Midd-West and Hughesville on the horizon, and those games will give Loyalsock a good test.

4. Hughesville (3-1-1): The Spartans are playing great early in the season. After a 6-1 win over Sullivan County, the Spartans held Montoursville to a 2-2 tie, playing well and not allowing a late go-ahead goal. That was followed with a 7-1 rout over Jersey Shore. While Carter Gormont has put up ridiculous numbers so far (20 goals and counting), players like Peyton Hartman and Patrick Stine are doing excellent job finding teammates to score as they have six and five assists, respectively, thus far.

T-5. Montgomery (3-2): The Sherman Brothers are proving to be a tough combination to slow down for opposing defenses. Dylan Sherman has 12 goals this season while Weston has two goals and six assists. Those two have been key pieces to the Red Raiders' 3-2 start this year. Montgomery picked up a 3-1 win on Monday against Northeast Bradford, a District 4 qualifier last year who won 13 games.

T-5. Wellsboro (3-1-1): The Green Hornets battled Montoursville tough and walked away with a 2-2 tie on Saturday to move to 3-1-1. It was the Green Hornets first non-NTL opponent so far this year. It's also the second of seven consecutive road games for Wellsboro as the Green Hornets have to be road warriors during this stretch.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK -- Connor Hofstrom, Williamsport

Hofstrom continues coming up clutch for Williamsport when the Millionaires need a key goal in a game and did so twice this past week. He scored off a free kick to lift the Millionaires to a narrow 1-0 win against rival Central Mountain before scoring off a penalty kick in a tight 2-1 game against Crestwood on Saturday. Hofstrom keeps stepping up when Williamsport needs him offensively.

GIRLS SOCCER

1. Hughesville (4-1): Hughesville showed its heart and toughness last week against Warrior Run. Trailing 2-0, some teams may have hung their heads and let momentum stay with the opposition. But for the Spartans, they kept battling and chipped away and won 3-2 with a goal in the final 29 seconds by Bella Remsnyder. Against a young but talented South team, Hughesville earned a hard-fought 2-0 win as Jaysa Kiess and Regan Sellers both scored.

2. Warrior Run (4-1): The Defenders shook off a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Hughesville, falling in the final seconds, to rebound Saturday with a 1-0 win against a good Loyalsock squad. Alexis Snyder scored the game's lone goal as Warrior Run and Loyalsock fought a good defensive battle with just five total shots on goal.

3. South Williamsport (3-2): The Mounties fell to Hughesville on Saturday 2-0, but give the Mounties credit. Their back line and Annika Harding in goal did a solid job not making things easy for the Spartans and making Hughesville earn everything. Harding had 15 saves in that loss and the Mounties battled until the end. South Williamsport has a young squad this year, but the Mounties are gaining a ton of experience every game and stepping up and playing well.

4. Montgomery (3-2-1): The Red Raiders played tough against Muncy in a rivalry game last week and didn't stop fighting until the final horn went off in the second half. Muncy tied the game on a penalty kick with under five minutes left, but the Red Raiders were trying their best to score and get the win. The Red Raiders have outscored their opponents through six games 24-10 and are playing well on both ends of the field.

T-5. Williamsport (2-1): The Millionaires suffered their first loss of the year last week when they fell on the road to. Midd-West, 3-1. Mylee Bennett scored the Millionaires' lone goal with a Mila Veldhuis assist. Williamsport has three road games in their next four matchups and will look to shake off the road woe vs. Midd-West and play better.

T-5. Milton (2-2-1): The Black Panthers suffered a 6-2 loss on Saturday against defending back-to-back District 4 Class AAA champion Shikellamy. The Black Panthers are 1-1-1 in their last three games, having beat Millville and tied Loyalsock before the loss to the Braves. This upcoming week will be tough for the Black Panthers with games against Montoursville and Warrior Run.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK -- Annika Harding, South Williamsport

Give South Williamsport Annika Harding a ton of credit during Saturday's loss to Hughesville. The Mountie keeper did everything she possibly could to keep South in the game thanks to a 15-save performance. Hughesville is a team that isn't afraid to take shots -- as evident with their 20 on Saturday -- but Harding stepped up when needed and blocked just about everything sent her way. She also had a save in a 7-0 rout over CMVT for the shutout last week.

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