Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Hollidaysburg's Allie Hayer (20) celebrates her goal with Emma Hayer.

By John Hartsock

jhartsock@altoonamirror.com

Turnabout was indeed fair play for Hollidaysburg in the District 6 Class 3A girls soccer championship game Tuesday night at Mansion Park Stadium.

After suffering a heartbreaking overtime loss to Bellefonte on penalty kicks in last year’s title game, the Lady Tigers got a measure of payback Tuesday, riding solid defense and a first-period goal by freshman forward Allie Hayer that accounted for the only goal of the game in a 1-0 Hollidaysburg victory.

Hollidaysburg (15-5-1), which was the top seed in this year’s tournament, will move on to face the WPIAL runner-up in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A state playoffs next Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

“Last year’s loss was extremely disappointing for the players, and they worked hard all year to get to this point,” Hollidaysburg coach Tristan delGiudice said. “They weren’t going to let what happened last year happen again.”

Thanks to Hayer’s goal, it didn’t. After taking a feed from junior midfielder Bailey Stoehr, Hayer found herself free in front of the Bellefonte cage and ripped a kick behind Bellefonte keeper Rory Pelipesky at the 15:05 mark of the first half.

Little did anybody know at the time that it would stand up as the game-winner.

“I found an open shot, took it, and made it,” said Hayer, who immediately celebrated her goal with her sister and teammate, senior defenseman Emma Hayer. “I had confidence that our team would score more goals tonight, but I am very excited to have made my own.”

In a game in which Hollidaysburg controlled the first half and second-seeded Bellefonte (12-6) largely got the better of play in the second half, one goal would make all the difference.

“Bailey made a nice feed to Allie Hayer and Allie took a great shot,” delGiudice said of the decisive goal. “We had a lot of good ball movement there and Allie did a great job finishing.”

Hollidaysburg got a shutout goal keeping effort from senior stalwart Natalie Foster — who made a particularly good save on sophomore Madelyn Fallon’s hard straight-on shot from in front of the cage with under 18 minutes left in the game – and was able to hold on for the gold medal.

“It was a really tough game and we pulled it out at the end,” Foster said. “We have a very strong defense and our offense did a really good job of connecting passes. This (championship victory) feels really good.”

Hollidaysburg won a regular-season match with Bellefonte, 3-0, but Tuesday’s game was more tightly-contested.

“I’m so proud of our players,” Bellefonte coach Stacey Miller said. “We battled injuries and illnesses all season, but our players persevered and had a fantastic season.

“I think that tonight’s game was a great game that went back-and-forth down the field,” Miller added. “We just made one little mistake on defense, when we didn’t mark their player (Allie Hayer) and she was able to capitalize. We played very well in the second half tonight, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”

And because Hollidaysburg managed to do so once, the Lady Tigers will be moving on to the state playoffs.

“I am so excited,” Allie Hayer said. “This is a great way to close out my freshman season in the district tournament and move on to states. I couldn’t honestly be happier.”

SCORE BY HALVES

Bellefonte 0 0–0

Hollidaysburg 1 0–1

First half

1, H–A. Hayer (Stoehr), 15:05.

Shots on goal: Hollidaysburg 10, Bellefonte 9.

Saves: Pelipesky, B, 3; Foster, H, 4.

Records: Bellefonte (12-6); Hollidaysburg (15-5-1).