PINE GROVE — Pine Grove clinched its first Schuylkill League girls’ soccer playoff berth Saturday.
The Cardinals reached another program milestone Tuesday.
Freshman Rachel Edge scored the game’s only goal during the 60th minute to top off a key early stretch during the second half to lift Pine Grove to its first Division I championship with a 1-0 shutout of Blue Mountain at Cardinal Stadium.
The Cardinals (16-1, 11-0 D-I) entered needing to win one of their final two games to win the championship. They finished it off at home, and now can wrap up an undefeated season in the division with a victory at Tamaqua on Thursday.
Pine Grove’s only loss this season was to Minersville, 2-1, on Sept. 8.
“I am just ecstatic,” junior midfielder Mackenzie Lesh said. “I don’t even know what is going on right now. It is just awesome.
“I’ve never been so pumped for a game, ever.”
With 15 seconds left in the game, the Pine Grove fans started to cheer. The players embraced each other after the final buzzer went off, and as the Cardinals were heading back across the field greeting their fans during their postgame jog, Pine Grove coach Jason Brown met them halfway. One of the players jumped into him.
Brown also thanked each player during the postgame stretch.
“I am just relieved that we finally won and it is just great to be division champs,” Edge said.
The game was even from the start, except for the first 20 minutes of the second half when the Cardinals took control. Pine Grove pressured the Eagles’ defense and had four corner kick opportunities over that time.
The Cardinals were finally able to score when Edge took a through ball from Steph Aungst, dribbled upfield past the defense for about 20 yards and then fired a shot from about 10 yards out. The ball rolled to the right of Eagles keeper Kamryn Stablein, hit off the post and went into the net.
It was Edge’s 30th goal of the season.
“It was so beautiful. It was just the best ball you could ever have,” Edge said of Aungst’s pass. “I just ran on to it, took a couple of touches and hit it off the left post.
I was a little sceptical because the field was all wet and so was the ball, and I thought it was going to slip or something. But it was good.”
Brown credited his midfielders of Emily Weaver, Mackenzie Hasenauer, Adrianna Tennis, Lesh and Aungst with controlling play as the key during that second-half stretch.
“In the second half, we knew we needed to come out and put on more pressure,” Brown said. “We needed to push the pace and put on more pressure. That’s what they did. We tried to win every 50-50 ball. The dynamics of my midfield, that was key in the second half. They worked better off of each other in the second half.”
The Eagles (10-6-1, 8-2-1 D-I) had already clinched a league playoff spot Saturday. The four-time overall league champs continued to play solid defense with Tuesday the 16th straight game Blue Mountain has allowed a goal or less in a game.
Scoring goals has been somewhat of an issue.
Blue Mountain’s best chance came during the 6th minute when Abigail Fanelli got a run at the goal and got a shot off from the wing. But Pine Grove keeper Jen Kaufman made a diving save before a Cardinal defender cleared the ball.
“We kind of fell out of what our game plan was,” Eagles coach Mike Burcik said of the second half. “I will be the first one to congratulate Pine Grove. They played well and they deserve was they accomplished here and they should be proud of what they’ve done. Now we have to look at the league playoffs and see what we can do to kind of ourselves to where we are a little bit more offensive minded.”
Tuesday’s victory gave Pine Grove a 4-0 record against Blue Mountain and Pottsville this season. Getting over the fear of playing, and beating, those two teams was hump the Cardinals had to get over this season. They did, starting with a 2-1 overtime win over the Eagles on Sept. 17.
Pine Grove beat the Crimson Tide 2-1 last Thursday and 3-1 on Saturday.
“I heard a quote somewhere and I used it with the girls: There is two ways to enter into a contest, with fear or with love,” Brown said. “Loving what you do, loving being on the field with others and putting fear behind you. No matter who you are going up against as long as you love what you are doing, you are going to be successful at it.
“We don’t fear any team. We play to win. We are not playing to just not lose. That is huge for us because that is how we have played in the past against Pottsville and Blue Mountain. We always played to not lose. Now, we play to win.”
Game Summary
Blue Mtn. (10-6-1, 8-2-1) 0 0 — 0 Pine Grove (16-1, 11-0) 0 1 — 1
PG —Edge (Aungst), 59:36
Shots on goal: Blue Mountain 5, Pine Grove 2. Corner kicks: Blue Mountain 1, Pine Grove 5. Saves: Blue Mountain (Bogotuik 1, Stablein 0) 1, Pine Grove (Kaufman) 5.
JV Score: Blue Mountain 4-0