Photo by Tim Weight
By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – Defense took centre stage Tuesday at Alumni Field at Bald Eagle Area High School.

Two familiar foes met in boys soccer field when Bald Eagle Area hosted Penns Valley.

The result was nothing new for these two teams as they always bring out the best in each other.

In their last meeting the game was decided on a Penns Valley penalty kick for the game’s only score.

But Tuesday neither team were going to concede to the other as they finished in a 2Overtime defensive thriller.

Bald Eagle goalie Henry Bacon was lights out in the contest notching 10 saves most of which were in traffic.

The Rams goalie Owen Robb was also up for the challenge when he stopped 11 Bald Eagle blasts en route to the scoreless tie.

Not only did the goalies play clutch for each team but the defensive backlines of both teams were strong under pressure as they were able to clear the ball in threatening situations.

“The defense was fantastic tonight. Henry (Bacon) all the way up through the four defenders and the CDM. They were on,” said Bald Eagle Area’s Head Coach Jason Bair. “We really turned up the pressure in the second half. We just couldn’t get one in. We had multiple shots that just missed. Hats off to their keeper. He stopped them. He had a finger tip on each one. It takes one to win. We didn’t get it. But that was a really hard fought game between the two teams.”

Penns Valley opened the game and took it right to the heart of the Eagles side of the field. After holding it down in Bald Eagle’s side, the Eagles were able to switch the field temporarily.

Both teams exchanged possessions.

Penns Valley went to try to catch the Eagles defense on their heels but were unsuccessful all evening.

Bald Eagles defensive backline consisted of Jacob Neidrick, Alec Wagner and Blake Wagner. The backline held on every Rams breakaway attempts as they were able to recover and limit the open shots at the goal.

Bald Eagles led the game in shots by a 19-18 margin while the Rams held a 5-4 advantage in corner opportunities.

When the buzzer sounded ending the first half, both teams went to plan their plan of action for the second half.

Coming into the second half, the Eagles struck the ball downfield first, putting the Eagles first touch down in the Rams back-third.

The two teams exchanged numerous  possessions as both took turns in trying to find a weakness in the other’s defense.

Neither could as the game went into the overtime period still scoreless.

In both overtimes, the Eagles held off multiple Rams offensive charges and were successful.

With the tie, Penns Valley goes to 2-3-1 while the Bald Eagles are now 5-2-1.

Penns Valley  0, Bald Eagle Area 0 (2OT)

PV    00 00 – 0

BEA 00 00 – 0

Scoring:

First half

None

Second half

None

Overtime

None

Second Overtime

None

Shots on goals: PV – 18 . BEA – 19.

Corners: PV –  5. BEA –   4.

Saves: Owen Robb (PV) 11, Henry Bacon ( BEA) 10.