The Saucon Valley High School girls soccer team won their first game of the season Tuesday, beating the Bangor Lady Slaters 1-0. Photo by Chris Christian.
In their first conference match of 2019, the Saucon Valley girls soccer team (1-1-0) slid past the Bangor Slaters (1-1-1) on Tuesday by a score of 1-0, securing their eighth straight victory over Bangor since 2012.
Dominating possession in the first half, the Panthers dispatched a load of explosive shots on goal, including two direct kicks off Bangor penalties, without hitting pay dirt.
Then just 4:24 into the second half, Saucon Valley barreled into Bangor territory to score their first goal of the season and the lone goal of the game.
Applying Panther pressure, sophomore defender Ava Albano sent the ball deep from midfield and senior striker Lauren Giles found a way to drill it into the net.
“After being deflected off of the defense multiple times, I got the ball just inside the box and I was then able to chip it over the keeper. It was very exciting because it was our first goal and win of the season,” Giles reflected.
Yet there was still a lot of soccer left to be played. With 12:17 on the clock, a Panther penalty resulted in a Bangor direct kick that was swiftly saved by rookie goalie junior Jackie Barbera.
Inside the last minute another Panther penalty resulted in a direct kick and another great save by Barbera.
“This was a big win for us in our quest to be one of the six teams that qualifies for the league tournament. Jackie got her first career shutout and I hope that was the first of many goals for Lauren,” commented Coach Stevie Ochse on the result.
Saucon Valley plays on the road and under the lights this Thursday, Sept. 6, in Northern Lehigh’s Bulldog Stadium in Slatington at 7 p.m.
All photos are by Chris Christian. To see more, please scroll down or visit his website, where you can purchase these and other Saucon sports photos.
About This Series: Andrew & Sonya Hughes of Hellertown are sponsoring another season of girls soccer coverage on Saucon Source to help recognize the achievements of our female high school athletes and in tribute to their own daughters, who were both stand-out athletes at their high school, where they played softball, soccer, basketball and field hockey. Between the two of them they earned 14 varsity letters in high school. “Female athletics was a big part of our family life for many years, but that journey ended at the high school level six years ago,” says Andrew. “Through those amazing experiences we also noticed that females don’t seem to have the same level of exposure and support as their male counterparts. So we are very sensitive to situations where we perceive an imbalance of exposure of female student athlete participation in competitive high school sports. We also like to encourage greater involvement of young people in athletics. We would like to help the girls gain more exposure at your news source by adopting some girls high school teams.” Saucon Source sincerely thanks Andrew and Sonya Hughes for their thoughtful and generous support of our local sports coverage.
