Mirror photo by Chuck Meyers Kate Steiner works for possession against Fox Chapel’s Summer Hill.

By Nate Ritchey

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HOLLIDAYSBURG – Hollidaysburg faced a Fox Chapel team Tuesday night that possessed the ball, maintained space, used speed and timed its runs very well.

And they seemed to be one step ahead of Hollidaysburg all night.

The Lady Tigers had not seen a team like this all year to know how to handle all those problems that the Lady Foxes presented.

The end result was Hollidaysburg suffering a season-ending 5-1 loss to Fox Chapel in PIAA Class 3A first-round action at Tiger Stadium.

“They (Fox Chapel) are a good team,” Hollidaysburg coach Tristan delGiudice said. “The ball control, his first touch was better than anything we’ve seen all year. “I recorded the game because it will be a good opportunity for our girls to come back and see where we need to develop next year.”

The District 6 champion Lady Tigers finished their season with a 15-5-1 record. Meanwhile, the District 7 second-seeded Lady Foxes improved to 19-4-0.

“We had a little disappointment in the WPIAL finals, so we were eager to get back into the swing of things,” Fox Chapel coach Carlo Prati said. “I thought we did an amazing job moving the ball, and we didn’t really give much to the other team (Hollidaysburg) until that last goal.”

Fox Chapel liked to go deep into their attack and look for a partner in front of goal. The Lady Tigers had trouble marking and accounting for all the Foxes who entered the box.

Fox Chapel took advantage twice in the first half with 17 total shots, including 12 that kept Hollidaysburg goalkeeper Natalie Foster extremely busy.

Less than five minutes into the first half, Fox Chapel’s Maddie Grimsley used her speed to carry the ball down the right side of the box before finding teammate Antonia Linzoain in front for a 1-0 lead.

“Our team is super fast up front, so anything we can do on the wings with our team is pretty dangerous,” Prati said. “…It seems like they (Hollidaysburg) were giving us space, so we started neutralizing it and finding those gaps. That seemed to work out pretty well for us.”

FC continued to control the ball and despite several more chances, including two corner kicks, either their shots went wide of goal or the Tigers managed to deflect the visitors.

Paige Solomon scored the second goal at 17:30 off a set-up by Emily McKee in the same manner as the first. McKee used a 45-degree pass to Solomon, who with one touch put the ball into the goal for a 2-0 lead.

“On that second goal, Jillian Buffone (of Hollidaysburg) was on top of her (Solomon) and she still managed to deflect it and get it past the goalie,” Prati said.

The Lady Tigers are used to possessing the ball and being on offense, but the Lady Foxes’ ball control not only kept the ball primarily away from Hollidaysburg, but also kept them without shots in the first 40 minutes.

After five wasted corner kick opportunities in the first half, FC took advantage of their first opportunity in the second half. Cassie Classen’s kick in front of the goal was knocked down by Grimsley’s foot with 26:28 left.

Grimsley added a second goal just over 15 minutes later, when he received a pass from McKee and used his left foot to knock the ball to Foster’s left for a 4-0 lead.

Fox Chapel’s Lily McLaughlin gave her team goal number five two minutes later on a Classen header.

“All of their (Fox Chapel) targets were nightmares,” delGiudice said. “Crosses that were deflected while they were making excellent plays that our goalkeeper, who had played outstandingly all year, didn’t even have a chance to shoot.”

Hollidaysburg’s first and only shot on goal found the back of the net when Lauren Stevenson played a corner kick up the middle where Bella Vent used her head to direct the ball at 7:18 to make the score 5-1.

“I’m very proud of how well the team played and how hard they fought throughout the game,” delGiudice said.

SCORE BY HALF

Zorro Chapel 2 3 — 5

Hollidaysburg 0 1 — 1

First half: FC–Linzoain (Grimsley), 35:14; FC – Solomon (McKee), 17:30.

Second half: FC – Grimsley (Classen), 26:28; FC-Grimsley (McKee), 10:12; FC – McLaughlin (Classen), 8:11; H–Stevenson (Vent), 7:14.

Goalkeepers: Fox Chapel – Patterson: 0 saves, 1 shots on goal; Hollidaysburg – Foster: 15 saves, 20 shots on goal.

Tomas: Fox Chapel 31, Hollidaysburg 1.

Corner kicks: Fox Chapel 6, Hollidaysburg 2.

Records: Fox Chapel (19-4-0); Hollidaysburg (15-5-1).