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Camp Hill proves formidable in title contest

Lions win district crown; Wildcats advance to states

Sentinel photo by JEFF FISHBEIN
Greenwood’s Luke Myers, right, and Camp Hills Quinn Pickering fight for a ball Wednesday.

HERSHEY — Camp Hill represented one of the few blemishes on Greenwood’s record before Wednesday night’s District 3 Class A boys soccer championship game.

Now, the Lions account for two.

Jake Coniglio scored once in each half to lead Camp Hill to a 3-0 win in the final at Hersheypark Stadium. Both teams advance into the state tournament; Greenwood (19-4) will travel into District 4 Tuesday to play either Wellsboro or Millville, which meet for that title tonight.

Camp Hill had two assets that taunted Greenwood’s skill all night — speed, and physical nature of play. The Lions robbed the Wildcats of opening possession, drove the ball up the field and tried for the net before 90 seconds ticked away.

That was the first of several times through the night that Greenwood keeper Bryce Dalpiaz was challenged; like most of them, he punched that ball away.

“They’re opportunistic. My goodness, they attack hard,” Greenwood coach Aaron Anstine said. “But we moved the ball well tonight. We made some big saves.”

Dalpiaz had to make big saves because of the Lions’ relentless pursuit of the net. For most of the opening 20 minutes, Camp Hill was in its attack zone, harassing the Wildcats. Greenwood didn’t have a chance to score until the next 20, registering its first shot more than 21 minutes into the contest.

“They kind of won the better part of that in the first half. But we organized a little bit,’ Anstine said. “The big field, I think, threw us off early — we’re used to playing on smaller fields. We do better when we get into tight spaces.”

Even then, it was hard for Greenwood to stand up to Camp Hill’s smothering defense. Eventually, someone had to make a mistake, and it was the Wildcats — somebody was left unmarked, and Camp Hill made the Tri-Valley League champions pay for it.

With little more than three minutes to play in the half, Matthew Little used his head to put the ball across the goal, and Coniglio headed it into the goal. It was only too appropriate in a game in which the ball was off the turf as often as not.

“Good teams make you pay for even small mistakes, and they’re a good team,” Anstine said.

Less than a minute later Greenwood had a big try that ended up off the post and brought only a corner kick.

In the second half, Camp Hill started the same as the first, but scored more quickly. Not two minutes after the break, after a corner kick, Quinn Pickering was able to set up Coniglio at the top of the box and the senior defender notched his second of the game.

The third goal — there actually were two on outward appearance, but one was ruled not to have crossed the line when Dalpiaz made the stop — was meaningless in the final minute; harmful would be a better word for Greenwood’s effort’s in between, or more accurately, Camp Hill’s defense.

The Wildcats’ best shot of the game came 66 minutes into it, and went wide; a chance on a throw-in was strong but not enough; another string effort was stopped in the final three minutes. Some of it was good play by Lions’ goalie Noah Smeriglio, some just the accuracy with which Camp Hill marked the Wildcats.

“We missed a couple opportunities in the second half. We kicked it right into the keeper, he made some saves,” Anstine said. “I’m thrilled with our kids and how we reacted. We asked them for 80 minutes of effort and I think our kids produced good stuff out there.”

Camp Hill 3, Greenwood 0

First half

CH–Jake Coniglio (Matthew Littel), 36:45.

Second half

CH–Coniglio (Quinn Pickering), 41:43; CH–Amias Colestock, 78:52.

Shots: CH 17-3. Corners: CH 7-2. Saves: G-13 (Bryce Dalpiaz), CH-3 (Noah Smeriglio).

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