SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Schuylkill Haven senior captain Tyler Yeakel used just about every trick in the book to shake free in the penalty area during the 49th minute of Tuesday night’s Schuylkill League Division II contest with Williams Valley.
He dribbled past two Vikings defenders and side-stepped two more.
In the end, he wasn’t satisfied with how he finished. But that didn’t matter much as the ball trickled across the goal line as the eventual game-winner in the Hurricanes’ 3-2 victory.
“I shouldn’t have tried to beat all of them, but I did,” Yeakel said, smiling. “It was a lousy finish on my part, but it went into the back of the net. And that’s all that matters.”
Yeakel assisted on Schuylkill Haven’s first two goals on virtually identical plays.
He won the ball at midfield in the 13th minute and turned to pick out the run of Owen Pothering, who sprinted down the right side and scored across the body of Vikings keeper Willy Girard to put Schuylkill Haven (5-3, 3-0 D-II) up 1-0.
Six minutes later, Yeakel again won a ball near the center stripe and turned to pick out Kristian Svenson on the right, who also flashed down the touch line and scored cross-keeper to put Williams Valley (2-5, 1-2) in a 2-0 hole.
“We practice forwards making diagonal runs and that’s what we were trying to do up top,” Yeakel said. “Every now and then we have to check back to the ball. That’s what I did tonight. I turned, looked for the through-ball and the other forward was making a perfect run every time.”
Williams Valley’s Steven Hill got off two scoring chances following Svenson’s goal, both of which went just over the crossbar.
But the Vikings’ probing around goal paid off in the 37th minute when a corner by Giuseppe Mini couldn’t be cleared by the Haven defense and ended up rolling in behind keeper Brad Fryer for an own goal.
Mini tied the game two minutes later when his pressure on the Hurricanes back line resulted in a turnover and gave him a breakaway goal just before halftime.
“Anytime you go down any amount of goals, it’s never a good thing, but when we went down two our guys found that inner drive to knot it up,” said Williams Valley assistant coach Todd Peters, who spoke after head coach Seth Shuey received a red card in the 79th minute.
“It was definitely a good thing. It did give us that (momentum) to keep us going.”
Momentum was all in Schuylkill Haven’s favor after halftime. Yeakel fed Pothering for a well-struck shot in the 47th minute and was set up for two of his own in the 45th. Girard was equal to all three attempts.
“We have a little more maturity than they do. They’re a fairly young team, but very aggressive,” Schuylkill Haven coach Vanco Georgevic said. “We told them (at halftime) you have to stick to our game.”
Yeakel did just that two minutes later when he tallied the game-winner.
Hill had two more solid headers on goal after Williams Valley fell behind in the second half, but both were right to Fryer’s mitts.
Hill created another chance in the 79th minute on a run to the end line before contact — ruled fair — brought him down just to the left of goal.
“Definitely a tough break,” Peters said. “Never a good thing when you think something may go your way. But we gotta play through that sometimes.
“This one stings a little bit, but we know we got a long season here and we’ve got to see them again so we’re looking forward to that.”
The loss was Williams Valley’s fifth in its last six games. Haven, meanwhile, got back on track after a 3-2 non-league loss Monday to Halifax snapped its three-game winning streak.
“Every time we beat these guys it feels good,” Yeakel said. “It’s a great win. Definitely a confidence booster after last night.”
Game Summary
Wms. Valley (2-5, 1-2) 2 0 — 2 Sch. Haven (5-3, 3-0) 2 1 — 3
SH —Pothering (Yeakel), 13th minute
SH —Svenson (Yeakel), 20th minute
WV —Own goal, 37th minute
WV —Mini, 39th minute
SH —Yeakel (Pothering), 49th minute
Shots on goal: Williams Valley 5, Schuylkill Haven 9. Corner kicks: Williams Valley 6, Schuylkill Haven 2. Saves: Williams Valley (Girard) 6, Schuylkill Haven (Fryer) 4.
JV Score: Schuylkill Haven 6-0