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Neimond takes record in Tigers’ title win

Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS
East Juniata’s Amara Brubaker, center, goes over Juniata goalie Hailey Kepner to score her third goal in the Tri-Valley League championship Thursday at Upper Dauphin. Juniata’s Malaree Rusho looks on.

ELIZABETHVILLE — Although it took East Juniata some time to start cashing in, eventually a third straight Tri-Valley League postseason championship belonged to a group that already has hoisted several pieces of hardware.

And Thursday night generated even more lasting memories for Thea Neimond, who departed breezy Upper Dauphin High School as the Tigers’ career goal-scoring leader.

Neimond pocketed two goals, Amara Brubaker rang up three scores and Kierstyn Fogle chimed in with one as Val Dressler’s Tigers spotted backyard rival Juniata an early finish before roaring back to claim a decisive 6-2 victory.

“Nope, not gonna forget it,” Neimond said with a chuckle.

The Pannebakers, Emma and Nylah, each netted goals for Juniata (14-6-0), which lost both of its regular-season scraps with East Juniata. Hailey Kepner added 16 saves for the Indians.

Yet even though East Juniata (18-1-0) was all over the Indians from the start and pelting Kepner with a number of looks, the Tigers fell behind when keeper Brianna Henry (three saves) had plenty of problems covering a cross, the ball squirted loose and an opportunistic Emma Pannebaker was on hand to clean up and pop the Indians in front just 13:34 in.

Soon, the goal celebrations began to arrive with frequency as Brubaker collected her first two finishes while Neimond and Fogle also connected as East Juniata zipped to a 4-1 lead.

“They’re a great team,” Juniata co-coach Garrick Paden said. “Those three are so good and they’re all great on the ball.”

Fogle’s goal was the 99th of her remarkably productive East Juniata career. She also packed three assists into a busy outing in front of the Juniata goal cage.

“Definitely wasn’t our best game, but all in all we kept working and eventually it came,” said Neimond, who assisted on Brubaker’s second goal. “Even though it wasn’t our best, we just worked through it and got over it.”

While Juniata was able to slow the Tigers down for much of the opening 20 minutes of the second half — despite yielding Brubaker’s third finish — the Indians were still down 5-2 with plenty of time left. More than enough for Neimond to make history.

And when Fogle served a ball in front with just under 16 minutes to go, Neimond was forced to hustle just to get in position for her memorable strike.

A toe-in did the job, upping Neimond’s career total to 108 finishes, one more than Hailey Swartz netted during her similarly productive days in East Juniata gear.

“It’s exciting, but I’m just trying not to think about it too much,” Neimond admitted. “We just need to keep working as a team.”

Eventually, all of the Tigers were celebrating a third straight TVL championship and posing for countless keepsake photos near the team’s bench area.

And while East Juniata will move on to the District 4 Class A tournament, Juniata’s next outing will come once the District 6 Class AA playoffs commence.

“That’s the best team we’ve seen all year and they’re the best we’ll see unless we get deep in districts,” Paden admitted.

“We can’t wait for postseason and hopefully we can keep going,” Dressler said.

East Juniata 6, Juniata 2

First half

J–Emma Pannebaker, 13:34; EJ–Amara Brubaker, 20:53; EJ–Brubaker (Thea Neimond), 23:39; EJ–Neimond (Kierstyn Fogle), 34:53; EJ–Fogle (Marin Varner), 36:48.

Second half

EJ–Brubaker (Fogle), 42:39; J–Nylah Pannebaker, 59:18; EJ–Neimond (Fogle), 64:03.

Shots: EJ 21-8. Corners: EJ 3-2. Saves: J-16 (Hailey Kepner), EJ-3 (Brianna Henry).

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