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Tigers rout Halifax in Tri-Valley matchup

McALISTERVILLE–The East Juniata girls soccer team went into Monday night’s matchup against Halifax looking to get back on track after falling to Altoona 5-1 over the weekend. The Tigers dominated the Wildcats in all facets of the game, winning by an 8-0 final.

“The effort was so much different than Saturday,” coach Val Dressler said. “Everyone was playing as a team–that improved greatly from this weekend.”

Dressler wanted to make sure that her girls moved on from their loss and used it as a learning experience to guide them for the rest of the season.

“We wanted to build off of it and not put our heads down,” Dressler said. “It was really nice to win and to build off of what we preach at practice.”

It took the Tigers 10 minutes to get on the board, but once they did, they were off and running. Brianna Henry collected a rebound off of a missed shot and sent it back toward the net. The ball hit off of a Halifax defender and deflected into the net, giving the Tigers the lead.

Carlee Barrick, who had been recovering from an injury, came into the game for the Tigers and scored her first career goal almost immediately, getting a big reaction from the Tigers’ bench. Her shot made its way through traffic and got past the Wildcats’ goalie Sam Manion.

“She was out for a week and a half, and Carlee just came in and scored,” Dressler said. “You can’t even make that up. It’s something we live for–someone making a difference as soon as they get on that field.”

It was an “off-night” for Tigers’ leading scorer Kierstyn Fogle, who tallied three goals in the win. Fogle already this season has a five-goal game and a four-goal game.

However, perhaps the best outcome of the night was that Leah Sankey looked as if she found her rhythm after struggling to score early in the season. In the first half, Sankey had multiple opportunities in front of the net, but couldn’t capitalize. She finally broke through with a goal with just under 12 minutes left in the first half. She would go on to score another goal in the second half.

“We joke with Leah and said she had a little bit of a curse going on because she couldn’t put it in the net,” Dressler said. “It was really good to get her scoring and get other girls involved.”

Also scoring for the Tigers in the win was Amara Brubaker, who fired a shot off her left foot into the net in the early stages of the second half.

On the defensive end, Tigers’ goalie Grace Hibbs faced just a handful of shots on goal–none of which posed a real threat to go in. While Hibbs was benefitting from her team dominating in time of possession, Manion was defending a shot nearly every minute. Even though she allowed eight goals, Manion made a few great saves, which could have inflated the score even more.

East Juniata hosts Millersburg today at 6:30 p.m.

East Juniata 8, Halifax 0

Halifax 0 0–0

East Juniata 4 4–8

Goals: EJ–Fogle 3, Sankey 2, Henry, Barrick, Brubaker. Shots: EJ 14-8. Saves: EJ-8 (Grace Hibbs), H-7 (Sam Manion). Corners: EJ 5-2.

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