EDEN — After splitting their matchup during the season, North Collins used their quickness early and often on Friday night, defeating the Pine Valley Panthers 5-0 to advance to the Class D boys soccer championship game.

The North Collins Eagles erupted early for the first goal of the game in the eighth minute when Alex Tejiera found Carson Tejiera in front of the net to put away the goal. The early goal opened up the game as both teams became more aggressive with many chances. In the 12th minute, Pine Valley’s free kick went through and spent time in the box, but nobody was able to put their foot on the ball for goal. North Collins followed with a corner kick that was perfectly aligned, but the shot went wide. Shortly afterwards, Christian Loretto sent a through ball that Alex Tejiera was able to get past the goalie.

“North Collins has a lot of speed and they do a good job using it,” Pine Valley coach Jeff Houser stated. “The speed killed us today as they were able to get to many of the balls in the open field.”

Pine Valley’s best chance of the game came three minutes later. On a corner kick from Wayne Libby, George Kruszka retrieved the ball and found open space for a shot that hit the post. North Collins would follow on the counterattack, where Alex Tejiera was in open space for a shot, but his strike was deflected away by Pine Valley’s goaltender Owen Ward.

The Eagles kept that momentum going into the second half with a flurry of opportunities and it did not take long to connect. In the 43rd minute, a through ball from Alex Tejiera went to AJ Puntillo where he found the short corner of the near post to give the Eagles their third goal of the game.

According to North Collins coach Jay Walters, “We always look to defend first, which we did a good job of today. It is great to see our goals spread out as many different people contributed in some way.”

North Collins would follow up with another insurance goal five minutes later. Brody Klawinski connected from inside the box on the cross from AJ Puntillo for his first goal of the season. Two minutes later, North Collins responded again with a good send from Puntillo, where Alex Tejiera connected on the goal with a lucky bounce that went his way.

“This is the second year in a row that we started off slow with injuries and putting people in different positions,” Walters stated. “We have been able to develop and play our best coming into October. We are playing much better than what our record shows.”

Owen Ward made eleven saves in net for the Panthers.

Jared Nobles and Curtis Goodwill played in their final game for the Panthers, but served as quality mentors for a youthful group of athletes.

“I would like to thank the team for all their hard work this season and all the heart that they played with,” Housler added. “I want to thank Curtis and Jared for all their dedication and commitment to the program. We will continue to work and come back harder next season.”

North Collins will play Riverside next Friday for the Class D championship.

“North Collins came to play and they were the better team today,” Houser stated. “This was not our best game, but we would like to congratulate them on the victory and wish them well moving forward.”