NTL GIRLS SOCCER: ATHENS DROPS SEASON FINALE AT BLOOMSBURG (24 PHOTOS) (2025-10-18)

Valley Sports Report
BLOOMSBURG — Bloomsburg scored late in the game to break a tie and post a 3-2 win over Athens here Saturday in non-league girls soccer action.

"It's a disappointing outcome, but I could not fault the effort we put in for 80 minutes," said Athens coach Rich Pitts.
 
"Bloom needed to win to qualify for districts so it had a big-time district game feel, which is exactly what we needed to finish the season headed into our own district semifinal," he noted.
 
"Every girl played outstanding and we went deep into the bench," added Pitts.

Trailing 1-0, Athens tied the game with 11:41 remaining in the first half on a hard shot past the keeper by junior Brinley Nichols, and the game went to the halftime intermission tied at 1-1.

Bloom regained the lead with 23 remaining in the contest, but Athens tied it at 2-2 about seven minutes later on a long, hard shot by Nichols that skipped the past the keeper and into the net.

Bloom scored the game-winning goal with 8:23 remaining on a throw-in to the near post, where Gianna Kashi one-touched it past the keeper to make it 3-2.

Bloom had a 7-6 edge in shots-on-goal (Nichols fired off all six of Athens' shots), and 7-0 advantage in corner kicks.

Sophomore Annika Lezak had five saves in net for the Wildcats.

Athens wraps up the regular season at 9-9.

The District 4 postseason brackets will be released Sunday, but it is quite certain Athens will be the fourth seed in the Class 3A bracket and will face top-seeded Shikellamy (16-2) in the semifinals.

We have a week to prepare for Shik, and we are excited where we are at as a team," said Pitts.



Print Friendly Version