GIRLS SOCCER: Ally Rudy, Paige Johnson lead Greencastle to 5-1 victory over James Buchanan

GREENCASTLE >> Ally Rudy and Paige Johnson each pocketed a pair of goals to lead Greencastle-Antrim to a 5-1 victory over James Buchanan in Mid Penn Colonial Division girls soccer action Tuesday night at Kaley Field.

G-A (5-2-1, 3-2 MPC) appeared headed to halftime with a two-goal advantage before Meghan Hirneisen let fly from 40 yards out with a high-arcing shot that created a scramble in front of the Rocket net.

Hannah Crist got a foot on Hirneisen's ball when it hopped off the turf, but couldn't finish it due to a nice save from JB keeper Siara Gossert. However, Rudy was in the right spot for the finish. She slid in and tapped the ball past Gossert before she could recover with seven seconds to play until the half.

"As soon as Meghan hit it, I knew that it would stay in bounds, so I tried to get in position as quick as I could if there was a chance to score," Rudy said. "That goal really helped our momentum going into halftime and in the second half."

G-A coach Greg Cole said, "I truly believe that 2-0 is the worst lead in soccer. Players seem to relax more when that's the score than any other time. Getting that goal gave us a nice boost."

Rudy bumped the advantage to 4-0 with her 11th goal of the campaign when she scored with a header off a bouncing pass from Marissa Lesky with 28:17 left in the match.

Johnson then finished off the Blue Devil scoring with her seventh marker of the year. That came when Crist was deep on the right flank and she passed to Johnson near the middle. Johnson's shot nestled into the left side of the net.

JB (6-5, 2-3 MPC) kept pushing to avoid the shutout and accomplished just that when Kayla Snider scored off an assist from Kyra Rotz with 10 minutes to go.

"We don't always win, but we play hard every game," JB coach Terry Appleby said. "This was our sixth game in the past nine days. That's no excuse, though. We made some mistakes tonight and we have to fix them."

G-A got on the board via an own goal nine minutes into the first half, and Johnson doubled the lead when she scored off an assist from Bri Roland just 10 minutes later. Roland played a through ball that Johnson gathered and fired from 15 yards out into the right side of the net.

Greencastle earned the only corner of the match and outshot the Rockets, 10-5.

Greencastle 5, James Buchanan 1

James Buchanan01—1Greencastle32—5

First half — (GA) own goal, 31:45, (GA) Paige Johnson, asst. Bri Roland, 22:13, (GA) Ally Rudy, asst. Hannah Crist, Meghan Hirneisen, 0:07.

Second half — (GA) Rudy, asst. Marissa Lesky, 28:17, (GA) Johnson, asst. Crist, 17:16, (JB) Kayla Snider, asst. Kyra Rotz, 10:35

Shots — JB 5, GA 10; Corner kicks — JB 0, GA 1; Saves — JB 6 (Siara Gossert), GA 4 (Jenay Faulkner).

JV score — Greencastle 3, James Buchanan 0.