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Hughesville girls beat Camp Hill to advance to PIAA Class A quarterfinals

By Jon Gerardi 7 min read

CAMP HILL -- Hughesville had dominated Camp Hill for 40 minutes to open the game. And, once the second half started, the Spartans possessed and played their game outstanding.

But one miscue allowed Camp Hill to strike nine minutes in and tied up the game. The momentum would not shift, however. The Spartans didn't hang their heads and they didn't get worked up. Rather, they kept pressing and playing well in the midfield knowing that something would break their way.

And with just under ten minutes to play, Hughesville struck.

Then struck some more.

Hughesville scored three huge goals in the final 8 minutes, 39 seconds of regulation to break open a tied game and give Hughesville a convincing 4-1 win over District 3 champion Camp Hill, securing Hughesville's first-ever state playoff win on a chilly Tuesday night in Camp Hill in the first round of the PIAA Class A playoffs.

"We have been in that situation plenty of times this year before and it was more of just keep or heads up, keep playing our game and we did and we got three more (goals)," Hughesville senior Kat Temple said.

Temple was the one who put Hughesville back ahead with 8:39 to play. After she rifled a great shot from just inside the 18, Camp Hill goalie Josie Sarrif dove and blocked it on a great read. But she couldn't hold onto the ball and it slipped away, right back to the feet of Temple. The Spartan didn't hesitate and buried the follow-up rebound to the left post for a 2-1 lead and Hughesville never let Camp Hill tie it again.

"You know Kat, right? You've seen her for four years now. She's got that nose for the goal and she just doesn't quit," Hughesville coach Cody Hack said. "I think if you ask her, she'd say I should have buried the first one in the side netting, but she stuck with it. Luckily it dropped to her feet and she was able to get a quality finish."

Camp Hill had just two shots on goal in the second half, one of which was the game-tying goal by Bekah Mulvihill with 31:30 to play off an assist by Mariah Bordner. Mulvihill was passed the bll and got to 12 yards out and was able to get a shot off right as she got tangled up with a defender, sending the shot to the right post for the 1-1 tie.

"We knew we had a good first half and Cody told us keep playing the way we're playing," Hughesville's Tori Morgan said. "We have these games where they tie it and we just know what to do and we did not let that stop us."

"I was actually just telling them in the past that goal usually put us down a little bit and Camp Hill would go get another one, or whoever it was (we would play)," Hack said. "But, for us to come back and stay poised and go get those other three goals? Just even the next goal was fantastic for us."

After Temple's goal made it a 2-1 lead, Hughesville would go on to bury two more thanks to Morgan.

With 5:48 to play, Kiess dished an assist to Morgan who sent it from the right-corner of the 6-yard box to the left post. She then added another goal with 1:34 to play when Kiess found her again and she scored from 10 yards out towards the left post.

"Even 2-1 isn't safe in girls soccer no matter how much time is on the board," Hack said. "To get that one, I think we all knew they would end up getting another one with the energy here. It was huge for the momentum of the game."

"(Going up) 3-1 is a big difference. Just keep playing our game, don't let them get another one because then they'll get back up there. Just playing possession," Temple added.

Hughesville did an outstanding job disrupting Camp Hill's offense. The Lions rarely were able to get multiple passes strung together as Hughesville's back line and midfielders would swarm to every ball and force quick passes, which often would be off the mark and result in a Hughesville possession.

"That's the whole point, we want to make sure that they don't have an opportunity to think clearly. Whether we mess up in that transition or not, no big deal, but as long as they don't get a clean look for the next pass? That's great," Hack said. "Keep that physicality up and keep that energy up all over the field. It will gives us opportunities because they cough the ball up. We had how many throw-ins tonight because they were looking out wide and no body was ready for it."

Morgan nearly put in two goals in the first half.

With 26:27 to play, she got between a pair of defenders and got to the 18 and drilled a hard shot, but Camp Hill keeper Sariff came up with a stop. Six minutes later, she got a 1-v-1 on a throughball into the 18 and from 15 yards out, sent an outstanding shot to the right, but it went just narrowly wide out of bounds.

Camp Hill's best chance to put in an equalizer in the first half came with 11:40 to play when the Lions had a direct kick from 27 yards out. Freshman Thea Robinson lined up and sent a great shot high that went just inches over the crossbar and almost became a highlight-reel type of shot.

Keiss had a chance with 1:50 to play when she got the ball inside the 18 after Sariff slid and blocked a shot and tapped it to try sending it high, but it hit off the crossbar. Kiess was huge for the Spartans in the win. The Spartan assisted on all four of Hughesville's goals and was constantly finding the feet of her teammates for chances to score.

In the second half, Morgan had a chance with 24:45 to play to give Hughesville a lead when she tracked down a ball and had a 1-v-1 chance, but the shot was blocked by Sariff.

The Camp Hill keeper had a solid performance despite the final score, coming up with 13 saves throughout the game and kept it close until the last two goals in the final six minutes broke the scoring open.

Hughesville did a great job throughout Tuesday's game as well winning 50/50 balls and keeping possession, something Hack was glad about as well.

"We talk about any ball in the air, I don't care what you get on it, you need to get something on it to redirect it," Hack said. "But we've been having enough of those over the years that we're finally able to bring some of them down and possess them. We were able to find the corners a bit tonight and had some speed going up to."

The Spartans will play District 11 champion Moravian Academy, who defeated District 2 champion Holy Redeemer, 4-2, in the first round. That matchup Saturday will be at a site and time to be announced.

Hughesville 4, Camp Hill 1

(PIAA CLASS A PLAYOFFS)

H--Kat Temple (Jaysa Kiess), 13:26. M--Bekah Mulvihill (Mariah Bordner), 31:30. H--Temple (Kiess), 8:39. H--Tori Morgan (Kiess), 5:48. H--Morgan (Kiess), 1:34.

Shots: H 17, CH 10. Corners: H 5, CH 4. Saves: H 9 (Kalia Hack), CH 13 (Josie Sarrif).

Records: Camp Hill (14-7-1), Hughesville (13-8-2). Next game: Hughesville vs. Moravian Academy, Saturday, TBD.

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