KEYSTONE DIVISION

FIRST TEAM

SECOND TEAM

Goalkeeper: Brendon Parkhill, Middletown, sr. Defender: Abdul Allaye, Harrisburg, sr; Tom Cronin, Hershey, sr. Defender/midfielder: Joe Baker, Hershey, sr. Midfielder: Aaron Gambini, Middletown, sr; Bret Haldeman, Palmyra, sr; Jeff Light, Lower Dauphin, jr; Dan Rusling, Palmyra, sr; Kyle Shields, Middletown, jr; Logan Walters, Lower Dauphin, sr. Forward: Alex Panuccio, Mechanicsburg, sr.

Players of the year: Jack Rudy, Lower Dauphin and Pat Hanosek, Palmyra.

seconds into the match as the District 11 champion Lions went on to
beat Palmyra 5-1 in the opening round of the PIAA-AA boys' soccer
tournament Tuesday night at Liberty High.

Brown picked the pocket of a Cougar defender, dribbled twice and
found the corner of the net for quite possibly the quickest goal in
tournament history - at least as far as Palmyra is concerned.

The Cougars answered with a goal of its own with 26:20 left in
the first half when Lions' goalie Alec Kaufman fumbled a shot by Zach
Klein, recovered it then landed inside his goal with it.

With the score tied 1-1, Palmyra was able to settle down and
play its ball-control, short-passing game.

But only for so long.

With 12:37 left in the half, the Lions struck again. Left
winger Eddie Painter, a senior team captain with a talented left foot
and lots of moves, dribbled into the corner and fired a low hard cross
into the middle that Brown again finished crisply for a 2-1 lead.

To their credit, the Lions weren't the type of team to sit back
and defend with numbers. They kept pushing forward confidently,
looking to break open the game.

But Palmyra showed its resiliency through its 17-7 season. Much
of its best soccer has come in second halves of games it trailed.

This time it wasn't to be as James McCambridge scored a goal with
19:32 left and George Tsirukis added two second-half scores to propel the Lions into the quarterfinals.

"At halftime when we came off the field, I thought Palmyra was
the better team," said Lions coach Bob Hartman. "But we made some
adjustments at halftime and they worked out for us.

"As far as the first goal, we knew Palmyra had a long bus ride
and we wanted to come and as aggressively as we could and maybe catch
them with an early goal."

MICHAEL BULLOCK, The Patriot-News, November 08, 2011 12:46 a.m.

PALMYRA

Back in the Class AA fray for the fifth consecutive year, Craig Tyrrell’s possession-heavy Cougars (17-6-0) will truck to Bethlehem to meet District 11-AA champ Moravian Academy (20-1-0).

If postseason experience counts, a senior-heavy Palmyra side gained plenty the past two seasons while working the western half of the state bracket. Ironically, however, the Cougars’ state title came in 2007, when a loss in the 3-AA final sent them east and an opening scrap with the 11-AA winner. Karma? Perhaps.

More likely the Cougars will need another dandy effort from keeper Nate McClellan and effective attacking play from the likes of Christian Rhine (20g, 5a), Bret Haldeman (16g, 4a), Michael Fuhrman (12g, 3a) and Pat Hanosek (7g, 3a) to best Moravian.

C.J. Sturges scored the game's only goal 5:44 into the second half. Caleb Cole played the ball into the box, where Sturges took the ball and forced Nate McClellan out of the goal mouth and put a shot in around him.

“It started with my outside back [Sam Stoner], stepped out to cut off a pass and played the ball to Caleb,” Lancaster Mennonite head coach Fred Winey. “C.J. Was able to time his run perfectly.”

The Blazers (21-3), who now have won six district titles all-time, will play District 11 runner-up Saucon Valley in the PIAA Round of 16 on Tuesday. The Cougars (17-6) will face District 11 champion Moravian Academy.

Palmyra was held to four shots and four corners.

“We didn't get downfield and outside enough,” Palmyra head coach Craig Tyrrell said. “Our strength is getting outside and we didn't do that enough.”

One of the Cougars' best chances was just after Sturges' goal. Pat Hanosek had a shot in the box that Lancaster Mennonite goalie Cole Hoover deflected away. The ball was loose briefly and eventually Palmyra was awarded a corner, but the Cougars did not get another shot on the possession.

Palmyra's last quality chance was with four minutes left in the game, when Christian Rhine made a run into the center of the box to receive a pass, but Matt Hess had him marked and flicked the ball away before Rhine could get a touch.

Palmyra had the first big scoring chance of the game seven minutes in, when Rhine took a shot from the top of the box that Hoover deflected away with his forearms.

After that, the Blazers had most of the attack time.

“We didn't take care as much as we need to,” Tyrrell said. “We let them get behind...We weren't being patient. We had three-on-five and two-on-five.”

Sturges had two chances about a minute apart in the middle of the first half that were stopped by McClellan. The first was a shot from the right that McClellan slid to stop, then Sturges fired a shot from beyond the box that McClellan caught.

Lancaster Mennonite's best opportunity before halftime came with nine minutes left in the opening period, when Cole's crossing pass from the right set up Mark Engle with an open net, but Engle's touch sailed over the crossbar.

It was the Blazers' fourth straight win over the Cougars. Lancaster Mennonite defeated Palmyra in last year's district semifinals.

“You respect a team by giving them your best game,” Winey said of the Blazers' recent success against the Cougars.

Hoover stopped three shots for the Blazers.

McClellan made five saves for the Cougars.

Lancaster Mennonite had eight shots and two corners.

For Nate McClellan, Thursday’s District 3-AA boys’ soccer semifinal was about personal redemption. 

Palmyra’s junior netminder shoulders the blame for his team’s district semifinal loss to Lancaster Mennonite last season. Thursday’s tussle with top-seed Gettysburg — the same Gettysburg side that clocked the Cougars on Oct. 20 in the Mid-Penn final — was McClellan’s chance to redeem himself. 

Mission accomplished. 

McClellan made a handful key stops in the second half and his teammates backed him up with plenty of offense in a 4-1 victory at Eagle View Stadium. 

“It’s a great win in two aspects,” McClellan said. 

“[Gettysburg] beat us pretty good a few weeks ago, which was well documented. But last year in the semis, I made a really bad mistake that cost us and I missed some chances in penalty kicks, so this was all about redemption.” 

The win sends Craig Tyrrell’s Cougars (17-5) into Saturday’s 3-AA championship game against defending champion Lancaster Mennonite. Game time is 5:30 p.m. at Hersheypark Stadium. It’ll be a double revenge opportunity for Palmyra, which not only fell to Mennonite in last year’s 3-AA semis, but also came up one goal short [2-1 loss] against the Blazers on Sept. 20. 

The gritty Warriors (17-3) must now play for their postseason lives in Saturday’s third-place/state qualifier against Tulpehocken at Hersheypark Stadium at 1:30 p.m. 

Scott Hancock’s club, which faced an early 2-0 deficit, started to assert itself and trailed 2-1 at the half after Zach Tarbox fed Jon Tarbox with 3:02 to play in the first. 

Enter McClellan. 

Just under three minutes into the second half, the dangerously talented Zach Tarbox ran on to a long chip and got behind the Palmyra defense. He had a clear break to the goal, but as he dribbled around a sliding McClellan, the latter reached back with his arm to get a piece of the ball. 

At the same time, defender Ryan Early got back into the play and helped spoil the scoring chance. 

“He was coming straight at me, but I know a lot of defenders like to come in at an angle, so I waited for him to go right and I was able to reach back and just get a piece of it,” said McClellan, who finished with three saves. 

After Palmyra dodged the early second-half bullet, the play evened out until Bret Haldeman beat Gettysburg keeper Dakota Myers with a low roller to the far right corner in the 62nd minute to make it 3-1.

Almost seven minutes later, the Cougars pounced on a Gettysburg turnover as Michael Fuhrman crossed to Christian Rhine for a volley that made it a three-goal lead with 10:49 left. 

“I figured we’d see a little different defense after we played them the last time,” said Hancock. 

“The two biggest differences were their keeper and they put Ryan Early in front of Zach for most of the game.” 

In the first half, Pat Hanosek opened the scoring at 4:44 when he buried a ball from 25 yards out past a diving Myers (five saves). Midway through the half, Fuhrman headed home a Zach Klein corner kick for a 2-0 lead. 

This will be Palmyra’s third District 3-AA final in five seasons and first since 2008. 

“We closed a lot better on the ball this time around,” Tyrrell said. 

“Our movement with the ball was a lot better and that allowed us to get more chances in their attacking third.”

After jumping out to a 4-0 lead, Palmyra advanced to Saturday's quarterfinals with a two-goal win over Brandywine Heights.

By JERRY REIGEL
For the Daily News

Posted: 10/26/2011 10:59:18 PM EDT

PALMYRA - If nothing else, the Palmyra High boys' soccer team has proved this year it has a strong chin.

For the third time in a month, Palmyra pulled itself off the canvas and delivered a knockout punch of its own in a 4-2 win over Brandywine Heights in the first round of the District Three Class AA playoffs Wednesday night at Buck Swank Stadium.

It was just a week ago in its last start that Palmyra (15-5) was flattened by Gettysburg 4-0 in the Mid-Penn tournament semifinals.

As Palmyra coach Craig Tyrrell noted, the district playoffs are a new season and the loss to Gettysburg is a distant memory.

"We've forgotten about that one," he said. "What's important is what is ahead of us. We played better tonight, more patient."

Palmyra will continue district play Saturday against Berks Catholic, which edged Susquehannock 2-1 in overtime in another first-round encounter. The site for that game will be determined tonight.

Palmyra came out throwing haymakers at the 20th-seeded Bullets (10-8), whose main defensive tactic early was to trap the Cougars offsides.

Palmyra was happy to oblige with seven offsides infractions in the first 20 minutes.

"We've seen the trap before," said Tyrrell. "We just had to hold our runs a little longer and time them better."

Senior forward Bret Haldeman finally broke through with a goal in the 33rd minute, then added a second-half goal between two Christian Rhine scores to make it 4-0 with 16:56 left.

Tyrrell took many of his starters out with 15 minutes left, but after the Bullets cut the lead in half with seven minutes left, senior captain Pat Hanosek, Zach Klein, Haldeman and Rhine returned to the field.

Palmyra could have blown this one open early, but it didn't. Dan Rusling had a great chance to score off a corner in the 11th minute, when his diving header from close range popped over the bar.

Michael Fuhrman set up Rusling and Rhine with smart passes that led to open shots a few minutes later, with Rusling's shot rolling wide and Rhine's blast going right to goalie Chris Langston.

Palmyra got closer when Fuhrman was brought down and drew a penalty kick in the 32nd minute. Haldeman's measured PK kicked to the outside off the right post, but a minute later he ran down a through ball in the middle of the field, dribbled around Langston and beat center back Tyler Reichard to the ball for the tap-in goal.

You could almost hear a collective sigh of relief from the Palmyra faithful, who had sat through almost an hour and a half of scoreless soccer in its last two games.

In the second half, Rhine got things started quickly just two minutes after intermission off a pass from Hanosek. Rhine added his second goal with 31:57 left, before Haldeman converted an Evan Downey pass.

The Cougars have now won 15 games this year, but also lost five, including two lopsided losses. Lower Dauphin flattened them 3-0 in Mid-Penn Keystone Division play a month ago, followed by the 4-0 drubbing last week by Gettysburg.

In the district playoffs, this senior-laden team, which is seeded No. 4, knows it's either win or go home, at least for another game or two. With a win over Berks Catholic on Saturday, the Cougars will likely face Gettysburg, the No. 1 seeded team at 15-2.Only three teams qualify for the AA tournament.

"We'd like another shot at Gettysburg," Hanosek said. "For the first 20 minutes of that game, we were in complete control. We let that one guy (Zach Tarbox, who scored a hat trick) beat us. But we've been working on that and we'll be ready next time for him. We still think we're the better team."

Hanosek got no arguments from Brandywine Heights goalie Langston, who kept his team in the game early with some nifty saves.

"Palmyra's tough, as tough as any team we faced in Berks County," he said. "We played Tulpehocken and lost only 1-0. If Palmyra plays Tulpehocken, I think Palmyra will win."

Tulpehocken and Lancaster Mennonite are the other seeded teams in the lower half of the AA bracket.

BOYS' SOCCER: Cougars claim Keystone crown

Boys' soccer: Nate McClellan, Christian Rhine among those who come up big in Palmyra's 1-0 win at Keystone Division rival Mechanicsburg

MICHAEL BULLOCK, The Patriot-News, September 30, 2011 4:13 a.m.

With a rain storm coming, the Palmyra boys' soccer team put its foot on the pedal Tuesday night against Susquehanna Township. The result was an 8-3 drubbing of the Indians at Buck Swank Stadium in Palmyra where the game between the two Keystone Division foes was moved up 90 minutes due to an impending storm.

MICHAEL BULLOCK, The Patriot-News, September 23, 2011 5 a.m.

Talk about thorough domination.

Yet while a one-sided encounter doesn't occur all that frequently when a pair of quality soccer teams collide in one of those all-important scraps that have a sizable impact on the big picture, that's what occurred Thursday night before a festive crowd at Lower Dauphin Middle School.

Lower Dauphin 3, Palmyra 0.

"To come out and play 80 minutes like that at that tempo and that pace," enormously pleased Lower Dauphin skipper Gerry Lynch said after his aroused ballclub took over first place in the Mid-Penn's highly competitive Keystone Division after taking apart a talented Palmyra side.

"To come out and play a complete game like that without letting up, that's what we need."

And that's what Lynch's Falcons (7-2, 5-0) got.

Hard-working striker Joey Julius picked up two first-half scores — No. 1 arrived merely 4:41 in when the powerful sophomore's cross to Chris Ramirez was inadvertently popped in by a Palmyra D-back — while Ramirez's striped blast whistled home with 10:06 to go closed things out.

Had acrobatic goalkeeper Nate McClellan not made a number of miraculous saves for Craig Tyrrell's startled Cougars (4-2, 4-1) — including a dandy on Ramirez and three others that frustrated Julius — LD just might have sent Palmyra back to Lebanon County lugging a 6-0 setback.

Or worse."He's a difference maker," a complimentary Lynch said. "He made some great saves."

"He's one of the best goalkeepers around right now," Tyrrell stated. "I think he's the best goalkeeper in the league. ... He knows the game really well. His experience in the game really helps.

"He reads the game well. He's quick off the line. ... He's very firm [with his decision making]. Makes his mind up and he knows it's the right time to make that decision. Gotta give him credit."

While McClellan had no chance to prevent LD's opening score, he kept his club afloat even though he was under severe duress for the first 60 minutes. In addition to the dazzling stops the senior made to keep the Cougars down just one score, Palmyra cleared a Jack Rudy blast off the line.

Then, with 3:36 left in the first half, a Logan Walters ball over the top put the opportunistic Julius in on a breakaway that left McClellan helpless and the Cougars in a 2-0 hole.

"We set the tempo right from the kickoff," Lynch said. "We played the game we wanted at our pace. We didn't let them get comfortable in their game at any time."

With midfielders Ramirez, Walters, Wesley Ramirez, Jeff Light and Ricky Robles on the prowl early, possession-minded Palmyra never was able to spread the field, work the ball and utilize its passing game to get forwards Christian Rhine and Bret Haldeman into the attack.

Even on those rare moments when the Cougars were able to penetrate and slip through LD's oppressive midfield, backs Jack Rudy, Fabio Amato, Alec Dormer and Luis Cervantes short-circuited all but a few Palmyra thrusts. Hardly tested, keeper Seth Erdman (2 saves) cleaned up everything else.

"They didn't give us a chance to [get into a rhythm]," Tyrrell lamented.

Although LD's pace cooled slightly after the break — and the game grew a bit contentious — Lynch's Falcons weren't quite finished. Once a slick Cervantes through ball put the technically advanced Chris Ramirez into scads of space, a whistling finish capped the festivities.

"This is probably the best we've played as a unit for a while," said Lynch, whose Falcons have collared six of their last seven. "I thought we put on a great team performance.

"We just didn't let up."

"We gave them a little too much space, but they're good enough to use the space if we give it to them," Tyrrell said. "They're a good team, a good team all the way through."