Comeback ends in OT

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic falls, 3-2

HERSHEY, Pa. — Down by two goals at the beginning of the second half, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic pulled off one of the best comebacks in PIAA Class 1A boys soccer history.

And ended up with one of the biggest heartbreaks.

Camp Hill junior Dylan Mayanja scored his second goal of the game on a perfect crossing pass from Jake Coniglio at 4:51 of overtime as the District 3 champion Lions defended their PIAA Class 1A title with a 3-2 victory against Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic.

“We went into halftime and the guys didn’t have their heads down and they knew we could come back,” North Catholic coach Aaron Kelly said. “We had scored two goals in a lot of halves this season and we knew we had to play pretty much perfect in the second half and they came out and got back into the game and I’m superproud of them.”

Mayanja’s winner stole the thunder from an impressive comeback by the Trojans, who got two secondhalf goals from sophomore forward Ryan Augustine, including one on a penalty kick with 5:57 remaining in regulation, which sent it to overtime.

“He’s come on real strong the second half of the season and he really just meshes with the offense well,” Kelly said. “He stepped up in the big games, for sure.”

And North Catholic needed it.

Camp Hill (25-1) came out and took charge early as it consistently pressed the attack at the Trojans and pushed them back on their heels. The Lions finally took advantage when Joshua Goodyear converted a pass from Will Earhart for the opening goal at 7:36.

For a while it appeared North Catholic might escape with minimal damage, but with 54 seconds remaining in the half, senior defender Danny Lynch got tangled up with a Camp Hill player in the box and was called for a foul. Not only did it lead to a penalty shot goal by Mayanja, Lynch had to be helped off the field with a leg injury.

“I was more nervous on the penalty kick,” Mayanja said. “On the winning goal, Jake set me up well and I just had to tap it.”

Camp Hill also won the PIAA championship a year ago when it defeated another WPIAL team, Sewickley Academy, 3-1. This was the first time North Catholic had played in a PIAA final.