Early strike
BUTLER TWP — An early goal set the tempo for the Butler boys soccer team Thursday, but it took a while for it to pull away.
Jake Gambel's goal 2 minutes, 29 seconds into the game got the Tornado rolling, and two goals in a 43-second span in the closing minutes helped to secure a 3-0 Section 2-AAA victory over Seneca Valley.
Taylor Blose passed to a streaking Gambel, who was alone on his left, giving the junior a breakaway opportunity that he exploited for the score.
"It's always nice to get the early goal," said Butler coach Troy Mohney. "I thought we had another chance to get a couple more right after ... Seneca Valley battled back in the last 20 minutes of the first half."
"I didn't have to say much to them," said Raiders coach George Williams on falling behind early. "They collected themselves and got their composure and got back on track."
Butler (8-1, 4-1) had a couple of chances to double its lead in the first half and the Raiders (3-6, 1-4) had a pair of hard shots that were smacked away by Tornado goal Zeke O'Donnell.
Williams replaced starting goalie Mike Stevens with Pat Hamilton with 7:30 left in the first half. Stevens returned with 23:51 left in the second half.
"We have two very good goalies," said Williams. "Both do an excellent job."
Hamilton came up with three huge saves in the first seven minutes of the second half, including one he tipped up over his head and grabbed before it went over the line, to keep the Raiders' hopes alive.
When Stevens was injured with 4:19 remaining in the second half, Hamilton returned, but it took the Tornado just 16 seconds to knock in their second goal of the evening.
Gambel came up big again, this time off a feed from Alex Krouse that left Gambel alone on another short breakaway.
Ryan Armahizer scored off a penalty kick with 3:20 left to seal the victory.
"You never know if that one goal is going to hold up. This is high school soccer," said Mohney. "Our defense held up.
"(O'Donnell) made some awesome saves the final 20 minutes of that first half. We made some adjustments at halftime and came out hard right from the start.
"The goal with four minutes left, I had a sigh of relief,"Mohney added.
With the first half of the section games completed, Butler and Pine-Richland are tied for first with 4-1 records, followed by Shaler (3-2), North Hills (2-3) and Seneca Valley and North Allegheny (1-4).
"I think we're improving with every game," said Mohney. "We're learning about ourselves with each game."
In the junior varsity game, Alan Dum's goal with less than two minutes remaining gave Seneca Valley a 1-0 victory.
