CURTIS PARK – Two set pieces a minute apart led to two P-O soccer Mountie goals on the way to a tidy 3-0 dismantling of the visiting Penns Valley Rams in a Mountain League contest Thursday in Philipsburg.
The Mounties raised their record to 8-2, including five shutout wins, and are one win away from clinching their second successive winning season and District 6 PIAA playoff appearance.
On a glorious fall afternoon that was a fitting change of pace from recent rainy weather, the Mounties felt out the opposition for a brief time before pinning the Rams down and never letting them up. The Rams, while passing decently through the midfield, could neither crack the Mountie back line nor maintain possession under pressure.
It was at the 9:30 mark when junior midfielder Caleb Henry lofted a corner kick toward the Rams back post where junior center back Taylor Golemboski headed down from inside the six to open the scoring.
A minute later, Golemboski was again the Rams’ antagonist as he launched a throw-in to the identical spot where senior striker Antonino Turrigiano kneed the ball home on a piercing volley. Suddenly, the game was at a 2-0 margin that Mountie coach Tom Petro was sure would hold up.
“When we score two, we win,” said Petro. “Those two set plays fell one after the other and that was the whole shooting match. Our back line is very stingy and no opponent yet this season has scored three on us.
The score would stand 2-0 until the 60th minute when senior defense-man Dustin Fisch launched into one of his customary overlapping sorties down the right flank. Fisch torched one, then another, and yet a third Ram on his way to turning the corner deep in the Penns Valley third from where he delivered an arcing crossing ball that seemed to be heading over everyone. Senior captain Alex Boumerhi, however, tracked the ball from the inside out as he raced Rams’ keeper Frankie Randazzo to the goal line just outside the back post where he headed a gentle blooper just over the outstretched hands of Randazzo, just inside the post, and just over the goal line for the final tally.
The Mounties out-shot the Rams 26-6 on the day and won the corner-kick battle by a 6-0 tally. Mountie keeper Jay Prentice earned his 5th clean sheet of the season by saving 4. Randazzo saved 13 in a busy afternoon in the Rams’ net.
Penns Valley won the junior varsity match, 2-1, with the only Mountie goal coming via the penalty kick of Levi Muir. The Mounties host Bald Eagle Area Saturday in a 9 a.m. kickoff.
GAME NOTES:
It is Mountie Tradition to name a “Man of the Match.” For his goal and assist versus the Rams, junior center back Taylor Golemboski earns the honor.
