Jon Gerardi on soccer: This past season was a fun one, with numerous milestones | News, Sports, Jobs

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent
Muncy soccer players enter the field prior to a District 4 Class A semifinal game last week. Muncy had a number of milestones this year including winning 15 games (program record), two playoff games in a single postseason (program record), and reaching the District 4 final and state playoffs for the first time ever.

Hard to believe the area soccer season is finished, isn’t it? Last Thursday, we had four area teams qualify for the state tournament, however by Tuesday all four were eliminated with tough losses in the first round of the state tournament.

South Williamsport’s girls team lost a heartbreaker to Lancaster Mennonite, 2-1; Lewisburg boys fell in an extremely tough defensive battle to Scranton Prep, 1-0; Muncy lost on the road to Camp Hill, 4-0; and Hughesville lost to the No. 1-ranked team in the state in Northwestern Lehigh, 4-0.

And just like that, it was a wrap on the area soccer season.

But hey, lets not dwell on the tough losses this past week. Instead, lets take a look at some of the highlights from this year throughout the coverage area.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent
Muncy’s Kenzie Haas competes during a District 4 Class A semifinal game against Millville at Central Columbia last week.

MAKING HISTORY

Muncy had very talented teams in the past few years, and even in the 2000s and 2010s for that matter. But despite how talented those teams were, they were never able to make a deep run in the District 4 tournament. Prior to this fall, only one team in Muncy history had ever won a playoff game (2021).

This year’s team was special and Muncy coach Jason Gresh guided the Indians into new territory.

Muncy won 15 games, won two District 4 playoff games, advanced to the District 4 championship game and qualified for the state tournament. Check all those boxes off as milestones and firsts for Muncy’s program.

I noted earlier this week in a column how Muncy’s seniors raised the program to new heights. There’s no doubt future Muncy players will strive to match that success, and perhaps even raise the bar further.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent
Hughesville’s girls soccer team reached the District 4 championship game this year for the first time in program history, and made its first state tournament berth since 2002 in the process.

SPEAKING OF HISTORY…

Hughesville fans likely recall that this writer picked Montoursville to defeat the Spartans in the first round of the District 4 Class AA playoffs in his playoff predictions two weeks ago. The Spartans proved me wrong in a big way.

Hughesville advanced to the program’s first District 4 championship game appearance in program history and qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 2002. Hughesville’s defense was key in its playoff run.

The Spartans shut out a strong Montoursville team in the first round, 1-0, before blanking Troy in the semifinals, 4-0. Hughesville battled defending two-time state champion Central Columbia extremely tough in the championship game, falling in a close game just 1-0 before running into top-ranked Northwestern Lehigh in the first round of the playoffs.

Hughesville had to face the No. 2 and No. 1 ranked teams in the district final and first round of states, respectively. While this season may be over, there’s no question playing those two tough teams in back-to-back games to end the year will provide a ton of valuable experience for Hughesville when the 2025 season rolls around.

DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
Montgomery reached the District 4 Class A playoffs this year under first-year coach Hannah Lounsbury, reaching 10 wins. It was a seven-win improvement from last season.

REMARKABLE

TURNAROUND

It’s hard to change a culture at a soccer program and as many will tell you, losing can unfortunately become contagious. One losing season turns into two, which results in three and so forth.

Montgomery hired Hannah Lounsbury over the summer and the first-year Red Raider coach inherited a three-win team. As a former player at Lycoming, she got her players to buy into what she was trying to implement and get the players to play better soccer.

There were bumps in the season with some tough losses, but in the end, Lounsbury had Montgomery reach the 10-win threshold and qualify for the District 4 playoffs.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent
Gavin Grieco and Loyalsock saw a five-win improvement this year as coach Steve Ertel had the team playing well to close out the regular season and qualify for districts.

From three wins to a district berth is pretty impressive for a one-year turnaround. And for Lounsbury, it had her more excited for what the future holds too.

“I think any coach would love to be in my position right now going into next year,” she said after a 3-2 playoff loss to Sullivan County in districts. “I’m even excited for the junior high season getting the girls ready a couple years early. I’m only losing three seniors, so I’m really luck in the w ay. We can build off what we did next year.”

ON THE RIGHT PATH

Montgomery coach Michael Sherman had the Red Raiders in the playoffs for a second consecutive season this year. The Red Raiders went 10-9 and ended up falling to Southern Columbia in the District 4 Class A quarterfinals, 2-0.

While the team had a second straight year with a first-round exit, Montgomery has continued to stay competitive and making progress under Sherman.

This year’s playoff berth marked a second consecutive district appearance for the Red Raiders, the first time since 2010 that Montgomery has been playoff bound in consecutive years.

It speaks to the impact Sherman has made as a coach. It’s been a steady climb since he got the varsity program back in 2020 after there was no program since 2015.

Montgomery continues getting better and don’t be surprised to see the Red Raiders advance in districts sooner rather than later.

THREE-PEAT

Not many area teams in girls soccer have pulled off the three-peat over the decades, but South Williamsport’s girls soccer team was the latest to add their name to that short list.

South Williamsport defeated Mid-Penn rival Muncy, 1-0, in the District 4 Class A championship game to secure the program’s first-ever three-peat feat.

South Williamsport’s seniors in Abby Akers, Olivia Loudenslager and Olivia Regan made history for the Mounties by becoming the first group of players to ever appear in four consecutive District 4 championship games, and won the last three consecutive.

As mentioned in a previous column, the Mounties seniors and juniors have raised the bar for success at South Williamsport and will leave some pretty big shoes for younger players to fill.

PEAKING WHEN

THEY NEEDED TO

Loyalsock’s boys team had a bit of an up-and-down year to begin the season. A few wins would be followed by a loss that the Lancers played tough in.

But when October rolled around, Loyalsock coach Steve Ertel had his team peaking at the right time. Following a 1-1 double overtime draw to Bloomsburg on Oct. 2, Loyalsock closed out the regular season going 3-1-1 down the stretch, including a win over District 4 Class AA semifinalist Wellsboro.

“Our progress isn’t linear, it’s up and down. Sometimes you gotta go back to go forward,” Ertel said after a 2-1 loss to Montoursville in mid October. “We try to peak generally toward the end of the season. Right now we’re down with a few injuries, but we are still climbing toward district playoffs.”

Loyalsock played well late to get to the postseason, but unfortunately ran into an extremely tough opponent in the District 4 Class AA quarterfinals in Central Columbia, 6-1.

Ertel coached Loyalsock to a 10-win season this year, the Lancers’ first 10-win campaign since going 16-3-1 in 2019. The 10 wins were also a five-win improvement from last season.

GOALS APLENTY

Talk about a year where players scored goals at will it seemed. Both the boys and girls field saw plenty of area players scoring tons of goals.

On the boys side, there were five players who scored 15 or more goals.

Wellsboro’s Micaiah Fitch scored 21 goals, tied with teammate Alex Citrino for the area high. Lewisburg standout Viktor Permyashkin scored 16 goals, Williamsport’s Brayden Ungard scored 15 and Lewisburg’s Isaac Ayres scored 15. All five of those players were instrumental to their teams success this year in boys soccer and reaching the postseason.

On the girls side, South Williamsport junior Ella Moore ran away with the area scoring title. Moore recorded an impressive 42 goals, leading by 12 as Raygan Lust of Warrior Run finished the year with 30. Moore had an historic season this year as well, reaching 100 goals and 50 assists for her career, reaching both milestones in the same game, and becoming South’s first player to reach both milestones in a career.

Lily McCarty of Sullivan County scored 27 goals — including reaching 50 for her career — and Milton’s Sammy Roarty finished with 25 goals — also reaching 50 for her career. Muncy’s Ava Eyer scored 20, Warrior Run’s Katie Zaktansky scored 17 and South’s Olivia Loudenslager scored 16.

There were also an additional nine area players who scored at least 10 goals this year.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

A lot of time goalies don’t get a lot of the spotlight. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t stars in their own right. The area the past few years has had a number of talented keepers, and this year was no exception.

South Williamsport’s Althea Street and Hughesville’s Bailey Gavitt both were great keepers for their respective teams this year and both eclipsed 20 career shutouts this season. Street had 10 shutouts this year to reach 26 for her career and Gavitt posted nine to reach 22 for her career.

Sullivan County’s Mariah Hallabuk led the area with 294 saves and, more importantly, reached 508 for her career as she reached the 500-save milestone that not many goalies in the area get to see.

On the boys side, Muncy’s Bodie Moyer ended with 175 saves, most in the area, and Lewisburg’s Gabe Pawling led the area with 14 shutouts while Wellsboro’s Camden Tom posted eight and Montoursville’s Mason Fry recorded seven.

Jon Gerardi is the sports editor at the Sun-Gazette and covers high school soccer. He can be reached by email at jgerardi@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JonGerardi.

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