NEW BETHLEHEM — Notching a double varsity shutout, the Redbank Valley soccer teams swept visiting Brookville Tuesday.
In the opener, the Bulldogs blanked the Raiders 4-0 while the Lady Bulldogs finished the night with a 3-0 shutout.
It’s three straight wins now for the 11-4 Bulldogs, who got goals from four different players.
Kaden Sturgeon headed in a pass from Kieran Fricko, Brayder Perez Godinez grinded through a busy box to find the net and Grant Shoemaker scored off a Caleb Root assist for a 3-0 lead in the first half while Root converted a penalty kick to set the final with 18:50 left in the second half.
“Passing, communication, spacing and being physical, things we’ve been practicing all summer, autumn and now the fall,” Bulldogs head coach Ty Scott said. “Those are the four key parts of it and we’re just trying to get better and better and today was probably the best I’ve seen all year.”
The Raiders’ best scoring chance came in the second half when Oryn Vander Kelen’s direct kick at the top of the box about 25 yards out hit the cross bar.
The loss dropped the Raiders to 6-9-1.
“It was one of our worst games of the year, quite frankly,” Raiders head coach Dave Reitz said. “What it boiled down to is that they wanted to be on the ball and won every 50/50 ball in the first half, so the first half came down to that and who wanted the ball more.
“We did not want to stay with our mark and we looked like we didn’t get off the bus tonight. Full credit to (Redbank Valley), however, they wanted to be on the ball and they moved around well.”
Both Redbank Valley teams play Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs hosting West Branch at 5 p.m. with the Bulldogs following against DuBois Central Catholic at 7 p.m. From there, the Bulldogs host Ridgway Saturday at noon at visit Keystone Monday at 5 p.m.
Scott likes where his Bulldogs are at this juncture with the Class 1A playoffs bearing down.
“If we play our game, I don’t think there are many teams that can beat us and we just have to keep being consistent,” Scott said. “Like those couple games that we had in the middle of the season, (Central) Clarion, North Clarion, Brockway, I think we should’ve won. We just couldn’t score. We were doing what we were supposed to be doing. As Dave said after the game to me, we won every ball and that’s what we wanted.
“This is probably one of the best games we’ve played all year, so I’m fine with that, just peeking at the right time.
The Lady Bulldogs, meanwhile, have at least a trip to Keystone on Monday. Their home game with Ridgway that was postponed Sept. 11 might be made up later next week.
Against the Lady Raiders Tuesday, Lia Hageter scored a goal in each off of the girls’ game, starting the scoring off an assist from Mylee Harmon at 33:03 in the first half, then taking a long pass from Avery Ortz and setting the final with 16:26 remaining in the second half. In between, it was Ava Moore cleaning up off a scrum in front of the net following a direct kick rebound with 14:54 left before intermission for a 2-0 lead.
The Lady Bulldogs improved to 13-2 with their fifth straight win, which includes last Thursday’s 2-1 win over Karns City. That was the team’s first-ever win over the longtime D9 power, ending an 0-61 streak since the program began back in 1997. (See other story).
“We can always clean up some stuff,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Mike Dawson said. “I think if we can get our set pieces a little bit better, so the direct kicks and corners, because in the playoffs, if we can get those looks, we want to be able to put those in because they’re going to come fewer and fewer. I think we’re clicking, passing pretty well and I think our defense is figuring stuff out. It’s been fun so far.”
Brookville, now 7-8, had some chances, but nothing from close range that tested Lady Bulldogs goalkeeper Carly Neiswonger.
“We did have all the opportunities and had some good ones,” Lady Raiders head coach Shawn Castellan said. “I would’ve liked to see them a little bit closer. At the half, I said we needed to start shooting, not at the 30, but at the 20 and inside the 18, so let’s test the goalie.”
That was kind of the plan for the Lady Bulldogs, who tried to execute their game plan.
“I thought we did pretty well staying in front of them, like we do our we do our work. We put into time watching film,” Dawson said. “So we knew that most likely, (Kaida) Yoder is going to go left, (Ally) Wilson’s going to go right. So we were telling our defenders just to just stay on those hips, because they’re probably going to come back to it. So they listened to us. Carly made some big saves for us. Reese did a good job in the back line.
“We knew they would settle for deeper shots if we kind of gave it to them … and make sure that Carly’s tracking it a little bit. We did a pretty good shot at keeping it a lower scoring game.”
In Monday’s games:
BOYS
Bulldogs 9, Punxsy 1
At home against the Chucks, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-0 halftime lead and cruised to the win.
Five different Bulldogs scored, led by two apiece from Caleb Root and Brayder Perez Godinez. Kaden Sturgeon, Kieran Fricko and Clayton Kemmer added goals while Sturgeon, Fricko and Godinez made assists.
GIRLS
Lady Bulldogs 9, Punxsy 2
The Lady Bulldogs got three-goal games from Lia Hageter and Iris Reitz while Mylee Harmon scored a goal and assisted on two others in the win over the Lady Chucks.
Bella Faulk and Madeliene McCauley also scored goals while Raegen Wyant, Reese Minich, Orr, Kate Grafton and Avery Ortz assisted on goals.
