Sentinel photo by SAM BAUMGARDNER Juniata's Camryn Burd moves to defend against Forest Hills senior Samantha Papcunik Thursday evening at Mansion Park in Altoona in the District 6 2A Championship Game.

ALTOONA — The Forest Hills girls soccer team scored a goal in the seventh minute to put early pressure on Juniata Thursday night.

The Indians kept it a one-goal game until the second half, but the Rangers broke away with three more goals over the final 40 minutes to prevail 4-0 in the District 6 Class 2A championship game at Mansion Park Stadium.

“Hats off to the girls,” Juniata coach Garrick Paden said. “They came out and they played hard. That Forest Hills team was a great team. When you make it this far in the year, everybody you play is going to be a good team. It’s never going to be easy. The credit goes out to the girls for the work that they put in.”

No. 4 seed Juniata finished with a 12-7 record. The Indians knocked off defending champion and top-seeded Cambria Heights 2-1 Monday in a semifinal.

Thursday night, Forest Hills (15-6) senior Samantha Papcunik dribbled down the left side, used a shot fake and buried a laser into the net for a 1-0 lead. Papcunik, a Slippery Rock recruit with over 100 career goals, and senior Aivah Maul each scored two goals. Forest Hills won its first District 6 title since 2012.

Juniata, which could not connect on passes near midfield in the first half, took its first shots at the 25:40 mark in the first half. The Indians’ first shot on goal against keeper Kinleigh Baumgardner came at the 13:50. Senior Mylee Landis, who scored all of her team’s four goals in the postseason, misfired on a shot from deep. The game remained 1-0 at halftime.

Papcunik made it 2-0 with a blast off the hands of goalkeeper Yaa Serwaa and into the top left corner of the net with 26:56 left in the second half.

“I don’t think that score line was at all indicative of how tough and how hard-fought this game was,” Paden said. “There were a lot of back and forth moments. We went down early and we battled back, created chances. It was 1-0 most of the game. One of our girls was in the collision at midfield, all of a sudden the ball gets cleared after one of the girls was down. The ball goes down the field, it goes 2-0 off of that. I think our hearts kind of dropped out at that moment.”

Maul dribbled down the goal line, went toward the middle of the field and dropped a shot into the opposite corner of the net for a 3-0 with 20:33 left in the second half.

Juniata was called for a penalty when Maul dribbled near the goal line again, leading to a penalty kick. Maul hit a shot that hit off Serwaa and past the goal line for a 4-0 lead with 17:01 left to set the final.

Juniata finished with six shots on goal and were called for offsides three times. The Indians battled injuries throughout the year and advanced to the district title game. Six seniors in Thea Beward, Danielle Espitia, Emerson Freed, Mallory Garver, Landis and Cassi Parson will graduate. Juniata was seeking its first District 6 title since 2014.

“We got 16 girls here, one of them broke their foot in our first game and we went to 15,” Paden said. “Whenever you have low numbers, injuries are a problem. We had injuries throughout the year. We were down to 12 girls at one point. They kept fighting. They kept battling. We have a great group of senior girls here that are going to be dearly missed next year. We got five or six sophomores that were out on the field at a time throughout this year. A tiny junior class that gave me everything. They’ll be looked at as leaders next year. The sophomores continue to get experience and grow. They worked hard and battled against a lot of odds that weren’t in their favor and put together a really, really great year. It was a really successful year.”

Forest Hills 4, Juniata 0

Juniata 0 0 — 0

Forest Hills 1 3 — 4

Goals: Forest Hills-Samantha Papcunik (2) (32:22 first half, 26:56 second half); Aivah Maul (2) (20:33 second half, 17:01 second half).

Shutout: Kinleigh Baumgardner.

Records: Juniata 12-7; Forest Hills 15-6.