Gettysburg's Yingling brothers put on a show, beat Susquehannock in semifinals

Gettysburg defeated Susquehannock twice during the regular season on its way to capturing the YAIAA Division II championship in boys' soccer this season.

It would take a third victory for Gettysburg to return to the District 3 Class AA championship match, and the Warriors did just that with a 3-0 triumph in the semifinals on Monday night at Northeastern High School.

Gettysburg will face off for the title against Lancaster Mennonite, which beat Fleetwood on penalty kicks, 4-2, after neither scored through regulation or overtime in the other semifinal. The championship game will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Hersheypark Stadium. Last season, Gettysburg fell to Fleetwood, 2-1, in the final.

"Our guys are loose and they're just playing," Gettysburg co-head coach Ian Hancock said. "I feel like they've embraced the pressure as it has been building throughout the year."

Gettysburg (22-0) junior striker Matt Yingling added, "We've been taking it game-by-game all year, but getting back to Hershey for another chance at a district championship had been a long term goal all year for us."

Yingling had the first shot on goal of the match, a soft header that was easily handled by Susquehannock keeper Aaron Bilbie just 54 seconds into the match.

Susquehannock (15-7) earned the next two shots on goal, both from Colton Mumley, but they were handled by Gettysburg keeper Yanni Tassou with 34:28 and 29:55 to go in the first half.

The match remained scoreless for another four minutes before Yingling rang up a firecracker of a goal from 30 yards out on an assist from Drew Wivell, who played the ball from the center of the field to Yingling, who had his back to the net. Yingling faked to his right, spun back to his left and let loose with a right-footed rip from 20 yards out to the top right corner of the net at the 25:33 mark of the first half.

"My brother (Adam) was calling for it, but I saw the shot and took it," Matt said. "It was probably a top-two goal that I've ever scored."

The match remained 1-0 until Adam Yingling scored off a penalty kick to the lower left corner with 29:42 to go in the match. The PK was earned when Wivell was taken down in the box.

Then the Yingling brothers connected for the finishing touches with Adam setting up Matt for the match-sealing marker with 14:11 left. Matt received the pass deep on the left flank and buried a shot into the right side of the net.

"Adam can get the ball through the smallest seams and he found me there," Matt said.

Gettysburg held a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal, but Susquehannock owned a 4-1 edge in corners. Gettysburg won the three matchups this season, 5-0, 3-0 and 3-0 for a combined 11-0 count.

"Each time we played them, we played them tougher and tonight we played them well for 60 minutes," Susquehannock head coach Brett Maxwell said. "But they're the front-runner to win the state title, in my opinion. They're a phenomenal team and it's going to take an equally phenomenal team to defeat them."

Susquehannock00—0Gettysburg 12—3

First Half — 1. Get, Matt Yingling (Drew Wivell), 25:33.

Second Half — 2. Get, Adam Yingling (PK), 29:42. 3. Get, M. Yingling (A. Yingling), 14:11.

Shots on goal — Sus 2, Get 6

Corners — Sus 4, Get 1

Goalies — Sus, Aaron Bilbie (3 saves), Get, Yanni Tassou (2 saves), Matt Balas (0 saves)