Aaron Callahan’s goal with eight minutes to play in the game lifted Our Lady of the Sacred Heart to a 2-1 victory over Lancaster Mennonite Saturday in the quarterfinals of the PIAA boys Class A soccer tournament.
Callahan’s goal snapped a 1-1 tie and completed the Chargers’ comeback from a 1-0 halftime deficit in a game played at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona.
Lancaster Mennonite, the third-place team from District 3, took a 1-0 lead in the first half and maintained it until intermission.
Brady Hernandez scored the equalizer for OLSH about 20 minutes into the second half, and the contest remained tied until Callahan’s goal, which came moments after the Lancaster Mennonite goalkeeper made a diving stop of Hernandez’s hot shot.
OLSH, which lost in the WPIAL championship game to Bentworth, improved to 20-1 with Saturday’s victory. The Chargers will take on the winner of Saturday’s Bentworth-Winchester Thurston game at a date, time and location to be determined.
Despite trailing 1-0, OLSH dictated the tempo for long stretches of that first half, and that continued into the second half as well.
OLSH coach Brandon Scott said his team’s response after the halftime break was “composed, patient and decisive.”
The Chargers continued to build through midfield and sustained pressure in the second half. Eventually they broke through on the scoreboard with Hernandez’s goal. That shifted momentum fully back to OLSH, and Scott said his team showed great discipline and strong defensive organization to lock down the win after Callahan’s go-ahead goal.
“We felt like we controlled the second half and were able to dictate the ball, tempo and spacing a lot more than we did in the first half,” he said. “Lancaster Mennonite didn’t really generate many clear chances after halftime. We were able to keep them in front of us defensively and sustain longer spells in their half.”
Scott said the biggest difference between the first and second half was his team’s willingness to play quicker between lines.
“In the first half we were too slow and too safe in our build,” he said. “In the second half we played more vertical, trusted combination play, and we got both wide players higher and more aggressive. That allowed us to pin them deeper for longer periods of time and eventually the pressure broke.
“We also changed our tactics and formation, and the boys adjusted without any hesitation. I was proud of the composure the group showed – being down 1-0 at half, still controlling the game, staying patient and finding a way to win.”
PIHL HOCKEY
Indiana 3, Montour 2
Joey Mains scored on a power play goal with a little less than three minutes to play, lifting the Little Indians past the Spartans in a PIHL Varsity Class A matchup Thursday night at S&T Bank Ice Arena.
Montour built a 2-0 lead in the opening period with goals from Talon Bruce Miller and Austin Lipinski. Miller scored his power play goal off an assist from Niko Sikorski 2 minutes, 25 seconds into the period while Lipinski’s goal came at the 13:32 mark. Braden Kulak assisted on Lipinski’s goal.
Indiana pulled to within a goal 2 minutes into the second period on Tyler Yount’s unassisted goal, and the Little Indians tied the score on Matthew Stone’s goal at the 10:32 mark of the final period.
That set the stage for Mains’ game-winner. Zendo Dzuro assisted on Mains’ goal.
Montour fell to 1-4-1-1 with the loss while Indiana approved to 2-4-0-1.
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