Huntingdon didn’t have many chances to score against visiting East Juniata Tuesday afternoon. The Bearcats spent almost the entire game backed against their own goal and, considering the pressure, held up fairly well in a 6-0 loss.
Six different girls found the back of the net for the Tigers (5-13), who led just 2-0 at the half and pulled away with four second-half goals. The Cocolamus squad had a 33-3 advantage in shots and an astounding 33-2 edge in penalty corners.
“It was a very defensive game on our part,” admitted Bearcat coach Vicki Schneider. “The penalty corners kept the ball near our goal most of the day. A lot of the penalties were called for the ball hitting the feet of our players. We held up in the first half, but I think our kids got tired and made some costly mistakes in the second half.”
Amanda Speece and Kristen Lauver put the Tigers in front 2-0 at intermission. In the second half, Brooke Stutts, Shellie Dimm, Adrienne Aldersen and Kaitlyn Drasher added to the Tiger total.
Sarah Smith stopped 28 EJ shots in front of the Bearcat goal, while Tiger counterpart Harley Straub only had to face three shots in recording the shutout. All three Bearcat shots were triggered by Sarah Stultz with one turned aside by Straub and the other two just off target.
“I thought our defense played well considering the pressure East Juniata put on us,” Schneider pointed out.
The Bearcats (1-12) travel to Orbisonia Thursday for a 4 p.m. match at Southern Huntingdon. The Rockets won 3-1 at Huntingdon Sept. 21 and the Bearcats took the rematch 3-2, also on home turf, Oct. 2.
Huntingdon then hosts Forbes Road for Senior Night next Tuesday, Oct. 17, at War Vets Field. The junior varsity game begins at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity match to follow at about seven o’clock.
