BOYS' SOCCER: Pine Grove, Blue Mountain advance to Schuylkill League final

Oct. 18—LEHIGHTON — Ethan Hannevig gave Pine Grove the lift it needed.

With the Cardinals and Schuylkill Haven dead even at a goal apiece after a half in Tuesday evening's Schuylkill League boys' soccer semifinal at Lehighton's Multi-Purpose Stadium, Hannevig twice scored on breakaways during the first 10 minutes of the second half, lifting Pine Grove into a lead it would never relinquish in what turned into a 5-1 victory over the Hurricanes.

Next up for Pine Grove (13-5-1) is this season's third matchup with Division I rival Blue Mountain (15-4), a 6-0 winner over Division II runner-up Nativity in Tuesday's other semifinal.

It was Schuylkill Haven (11-6), with leading scorers Michael McGoey and Astin Daniel out with injuries, that took the early lead in the night's first semifinal when Reese Felty sent a ball in from deep in the midfield that caromed off a Cardinal player and into the back of the goal less than three minutes into the match.

That 1-0 edge stood until the 22nd minute when Pine Grove's Garrett Brandt scored off an assist from Hannevig to forge a 1-1 tie. That tie stood until Hannevig became the dominant force over the final 40 minutes.

Hannevig scored at 44:11 to put Pine Grove up 2-1, then scored again at 49:09. His final tally at 73:19 gave the Cardinals some insurance.

"Ethan played really well," Pine Grove coach Marv Weber said. "He was hungry, he was frustrated.

"He thought he had some opportunities where he wasn't getting the ball. We talked a little bit at halftime. We knew it was going to open up for him."

Brent Yoder punched home the final Pine Grove goal off an assist from Haydn Williams.

"We played well for 40 minutes, then we had a really bad 10-minute span," Schuylkill Haven coach Andre Georgevic said. "After that, we played all right again, but we just made too many mistakes. We gave the ball away entirely too much."

The final numbers showed the Cards with 14 shots on goal, compared to just one for the Hurricanes.

Still, the Haven defense kept Pine Grove at bay over the course of the first half.

"I think we moved the ball well, we just didn't take shots," Weber said of his team's first-half performance. "We spent the majority of the time in the attacking third, we just didn't create a lot of shots."

Blue Mountain's victory was a product of a strong defense that limited the Hilltoppers (15-4) to just two solid shots in the game and an offensive attack led, not surprisingly, by senior Aidan Valentine and junior Ryan Mundy.

Valentine, the Eagles' single-season scoring record-holder, scored Blue Mountain's first two goals, the first off an assist from Dalton Riegel in the game's 12th minute, and the second unassisted a little more than 10 minutes into the second half.

Valentine's second goal started the Eagles on a run during which they scored five goals in less than nine minutes.

"The story of our season, unfortunately, and this is something I preach to the kids, is we haven't been able to put together two solid halves," Nativity coach Ed Burke said. "We were going to have to play two good halves against a team like this.

"They're well coached and deep with talent."

Mundy tallied a pair of goals, Colin Seefeldt added one and Valentine took an assist from Torrin Rabenstein to complete his hat trick.

"They came fast once they started coming," Blue Mountain coach Chris Brauer said of his team's goals. "Nativity played a brilliant first half, but we were just going to keep working.

"Aidan Valentine got on track. Ryan Mundy is back from an injury, he got on track then a couple others chipped in. It was a good second half."

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