PINE GROVE — Pine Grove’s Steph Aungst was better known for her passing skills the first two seasons of her high school soccer career.
This season, things have changed. The junior midfielder has been getting more goal-scoring opportunities and Aungst has capitalized.
Like Tuesday night, for example.
Aungst scored twice to lift the Cardinals to a 3-1 win over Blue Mountain in a Schuylkill League Division I girls’ soccer showdown at Cardinal Stadium.
In the first of what will be at least two meetings between the two teams this season, Pine Grove (8-0, 5-0 D-I) beat the Eagles for the third consecutive time dating back to last year. The
loss was the first of the season in the division for the Eagles (5-2-1, 4-1), giving the Cardinals sole possession of first place.
“It was really important to us because we knew we didn’t play well against Pottsville (a 2-0 Pine Grove win Saturday),” Aungst said. “In the end, the first half was rocky, but we put away the goals and that is all we needed.”
Blue Mountain controlled the first 20 minutes of the game Tuesday before the Cardinals slowly took control.
Mackenzie Hasenauer put Pine Grove on the board 1:06 into the second half, while Aungst scored her first in the 57th minute. After Angelica Kaledas got Blue Mountain to within a goal in the 64th minute, a defensive steal by Aungst turned into her second goal of the night in the 71st minute.
Aungst has started for Pine Grove at midfield since she was a freshman, but really hasn’t been known for her goal-scoring ability. Over the summer, she worked hard on improving her offensive game with the Western Schuylkill FC travel team. Plus, the opposition is now more aware of Cardinal forwards Rachel Edge and Mariah Lesh — and marking them more heavily — meaning that Aungst has had more chances to the put the ball in the net.
Aungst came into the game as the league’s fourth-leading point producer. Her two goals Tuesday gave her 14 goals on the season.
“I don’t know what is going on,” Aungst said of her season offensively. “It is just we have found more of a pattern, we developed more plays to drop it back to the mid. We know Rachel is going to be guarded and we know Mariah is going to be guarded. Me and Mackenzie (Hasenauer) have to step it up.”
The Eagles marked Edge with Kylie Kutz and Lesh with Jillian Moyer on Tuesday, so both Hasenauer and Aungst were able to capitalize.
Early in the second half, Lesh was working to the left of Blue Mountain keeper Lianne Derrick, and then sent in a cross. The ball was originally supposed to go to Edge but rolled past her and over to Hasenauer, who put it in.
Aungst’s first goal was set up on a pass from Mackenzie Lesh to Aungst on the wing behind a defender. Aungst took a few dribbles and scored from about 20 yards out on a low shot into the far corner of the net.
The Eagles’ only goal started on a direct kick off a hand ball from about 25 yards away to just inside the 6. Right before Cardinals’ keeper Jen Kaufman grabbed the ball, Kelley Maberry passed it over to Kaledas, who stuffed it in.
Blue Mountain had the momentum, but Aungst took all back with less than 10 minutes left in the game.
“We’ve learned, and our coaches have told us, not to panic,” Aungst said. “He (Jason Brown) just told us to calm down and keep possession as long with we keep the pressure up.”
Aungst took the ball from an Eagles’ player about 40 yards from the goal. Aungst then raced upfield and beat Derrick once again between her left and the corner post.
“I thought we did a nice job with Rachel and Mariah,” Blue Mountain coach Mike Burcik said. “What happened was their mids picked it up for them. If you can get that to happen, it’s going to get you the wins.
“When you make a mistake on the defensive end and you give up a goal, it kind of deflates you, where you are in a game, have an opportunity to come back and all of the sudden you are now down two. That is a big goal to give away.”
Brown felt the Eagles were able to control the first 20-30 minutes of the game thanks to a more physical style. Blue Mountain also played more of a long game versus possession and were efficient on the counter attack.
“In the first half of the first half, they were very efficient on it and almost scored a couple of times, but then we started to get our feet underneath us towards the end of first half, started to become more efficient and generate more opportunities,” Brown said. “In the second half, we started to string more things together. Possession became a lot better for us.”
Game Summary
Blue Mtn. (5-2-1, 4-1) 0 3 — 3
Pine Grove (8-0, 5-0) 0 1 — 1
PG — Hasenauer (Mar. Lesh), 41:06
PG — Aungst (Mac. Lesh), 56:07
BM — Kaledas (Maberry), 63:25
PG — Aungst (unassisted), 70:47
Shots on goal: Blue Mountain 6, Pine Grove 7. Corner kicks: Blue Mountain 3, Pine Grove 1. Saves: Blue Mountain (Derrick) 4, Pine Grove (Kaufman) 5.
JV score: Blue Mountain 4-0.