Boys soccer: Indians storm past Tigers, 7-0
Trending
MIFFLINTOWN — The rivalry was renewed Thursday as the Juniata boys soccer team hosted cross-county rival East Juniata for bragging rights of Juniata County.
The night belonged to the Indians as they would pick up a 7-0 shutout to improve their record to 12-2 while the Tigers fell to 3-10-1. The shutout win would be the team's 11th on the season.
Despite the score both teams battled throughout.
"EJ played their hearts out tonight. I don’t think they quit tonight. I think the 11 guys they had on the field, I think they gave 100%, which I respect greatly that they played to their ability," said Juniata coach Jared Byler. “In terms of us, it was really nice to get a lot of guys on the field. Good to give a lot of younger guys some varsity experience, but also rest a lot of our starters. So, it was just kind of one of those games that things just kind of went our way and I thought all of our guys, regardless of who was on the field, played pretty well tonight."
Picking up a hat trick-plus one was Jackson Shellenberger. Shellenberger sparked the offensive attack.
"Jack had a very nice night, but the thing I like about Jack is he realizes he can’t do that unless he’s got 10 guys behind him helping him," said Byler. "So I respect that about him. But I think the rest of our guys realize that as well. Like, the thing I like about this team is they are a team, and they want to play soccer the right way, and they want to help each other out, and they want to make the passes.
So it’s just a really fun group to coach."
East Juniata goalie Johnny Hoffman had a busy night as he finished with 15 saves.
"Overall, I think we came out a little bit flat, a little bit slow. I mean, we had three really good games here prior to this one," said East Juniata coach Tyler Inch. "I don’t know if that just kind of took it out of us or what exactly happened, but, I mean, overall, do I like the scoreline? No. But I thought we fought a little bit better than we did earlier in the season. With Jonny back there, he busts his tail for us. He makes a lot of really good saves for us. It’s tough when you get 20, 30, 40 shots on you, it’s tough to stop every single one of them, so, I’m not happy with the result but happy with the fight, for the most part."
The Juniata offense pushed directly down the field and cut the field in half with its offensive pressure on the East Juniata backline. After numerous shots early from the Indians, Shellenberger used his speed to get around a defender and blast it home at 33:03.
East Juniata's defense held strong for the next 12 minutes thanks to the Tigers temporarily shutting down the outside running lanes while Hoffman was able to fend off Juniata shots.
At 21:57, Juniata went up 2-0 on an unassisted goal by Caden Naylor.
As the clock wound down under the 15-minute mark, Shellenberger found the back of the net for the second time in the half. Shellenberger was assisted this time by Alex Portzline, at 13:38.
Shellenberger notched his hat trick minutes later on an unassisted contest.
With less than a minute left, the Indians took a 5-0 lead with 39 ticks on the clock, Josue Osorio scored on an unassisted goal.
Despite falling behind by five, the Tigers were able to hold the Juniata offense too just two second half goals.
Shellenberger posted his last goal of the night on an unassisted goal at 37:13.
Rounding out the scoring on the night was Landon Beward as he caught a pass from Portzline and sent it home at 22:30, giving Juniata an another insurance goal.
East Juniata will be back at it Tuesday against Halifax while Juniata hosts Mifflinburg Saturday.
Juniata 7, East Juniata 0
EJ 0-0 – 0
JU 5-2 – 7
Scoring
First half
JU – Jackson Shellenberger unassisted, 33:03.
JU – Caden Naylor unassisted, 21:56.
JU – Shellenberger from Alex Portzline, 13:38.
JU – Shellenberger unassisted, 6:48.
JU – Josue Osorio unassisted, 0:39.
Second half
JU – Shellenberger unassisted, 37:13.
JU – Landon Beward from Portzline, 22:30.
Shot On Goal
Juniata – 22
East Juniata – 1
Corner Kicks
Juniata – 6
East Juniata – 0
Keeper Saves
Juniata – 1 (Nolan Imes)
East Juniata – 15 (Johnny Hoffman