D-11 Girls’ Soccer: Siket’s big night propels Schuylkill Haven to Class A championship
The Schuylkill Haven girls' soccer team poses with the District 11 Class A championship trophy and placard after beating Minersville 7-2 in Wednesday's title game at Lehighton (Photo by Leroy Boyer).
LEHIGHTON — Kylie Siket put on a show Wednesday in the District 11 Class A girls’ soccer championship.
The Schuylkill Haven junior scored four goals and had two assists as the Hurricanes rolled past Minersville 7-2 at Lehighton’s Multi-Purpose Stadium.
The victory gives Schuylkill Haven its first District 11 girls’ soccer championship since 2013 and advances the Hurricanes to the PIAA Class A soccer tournament against District 2 champion Holy Redeemer on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at a District 2 site.
“It definitely is awesome scoring that many goals on a big field like this,” Siket said. “Obviously I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my teammates, setting me up for perfect goals.”
Siket’s big night came as a result of Minersville’s defensive game plan to shut down the Hurricanes’ leading scorer, Taylor Haag. The Miners heavily marked Haag throughout the first half, leaving Siket with plenty of space to operate, especially on the left wing. Siket took advantage, working well with Ava Terefencko to tally a pair of first-half goals.
Siket opened the scoring at 4:22 off a feed from Terefencko. The pair switched roles at 24:28 when Terefencko headed a free kick from Siket near the left corner past Minersville keeper Bella Rizzardi to put Haven up 2-0.
“We have so many people on the field who can score. It works out in our favor,” Siket said. “I was able to have assists because people other than Taylor were scoring. Taylor was still able to score, it just left openings for everybody, not just me.”
Schuylkill Haven coach Scott Burcik said his squad learned from its two regular-season Schuylkill League Division II meetings with the Miners — a 1-1 tie Sept. 3 at Minersville and a 5-0 win Sept. 24 at Haven — that using a spread approach worked offensively.
“We needed to get the ball on the ground and make movement off the ball,” Burcik said. “They did something different where they marked Taylor Haag and it opened things up for others to step up. Kylie Siket just put goals away.
“It’s a team effort. You try to stop one and you have three more to come after. We needed to spread the field and get many people involved as possible.”
