Strath Haven’s Holstein shakes nerves, helps Panthers return to Hershey

WORCESTER — It had been a while since J.T. Holstein made the walk to the Strath Haven bench while the clock was still running. Certainly it was the first time in the Panthers’ six postseason games that the senior outside back made his way to the pine.

So when Holstein was whistled for a yellow card for an overzealous sliding challenge on Archbishop Wood midfielder Ryan Morgan in the waning minutes of the first half of the PIAA Class 3A boys soccer semifinal Tuesday night, he headed to the bench with his head down and sat apart from his teammates with some trepidation.

“It’s nervous,” he said, “nerve-wracking.”

Holstein found a way to atone, and then some. He headed home a goal in the second half and helped the Panthers keep their second straight clean sheet, on the way to a 2-0 win over Wood at Methacton High and a second consecutive trip to Hershey for the state title.

The win moves Haven (16-7-1) back to the Class 3A state championship game, where they will take on Lower Dauphin, the District 3 champ that upended District 7 champion Franklin Regional, 2-0, Tuesday. Haven lost last year to West Allegheny, 4-0; Lower Dauphin ousted West Allegheny in the quarterfinals this year.

Holstein’s five-minute breather was the first time any of the Panthers’ back four – Holstein, Luigi Malo, Harris Hardy, Simon Bolinger – had sat in quite some time. Given the cohesive unit they form, one that far outstrips that collective sum of their talents, the Panthers had no reason to rotate at the back.

But as a scoreless game was getting stretched, Holstein leaped into Morgan in his own half. And while nervous, the Panthers adjusted seamlessly. Jake Hooper, who started the season on the backline, dropped from holding midfielder to right back, and Peter Boerth slid from striker to the No. 6 spot.

“It wasn’t a smart foul because we were so far from goal,” Malo said. “But when we have other good people to replace him like Jake Hooper and pushing Peter back to the six, we have more replacements. It was hard for us but we also worked it out at the same time.”

As it turned out, both the temporary and permanent right backs would impact the game after the break.

First was Hooper, the 6-foot sophomore who is always a prime target on set pieces. On the Panthers’ fourth corner of the day, Andrew Lowman picked out Hooper at the far stick with an out-swinging, right-footed delivery, and Hooper shed his marker just enough to throw himself at the ball and send it into the net for the opening goal in the 45th minute.

“It was getting us all year,” Wood senior midfielder Matt Murphy said. “We prepared for it, we just didn’t execute. It’s not like we didn’t go over it in practice or anything, we went over exactly what they do, they did exactly what they do and we just didn’t execute.”

Since Wood didn’t stop it, Lowman went right back to it seven minutes later, this time with a more forceful nudge from Holstein.

“Going to hit the second one, JT goes, ‘hit it far post,’ because that’s his run,” Lowman said. “And I hit it there, and he finished it, which was amazing.”

“I told Andrew to put it in one spot the way I wanted it,” Holstein said. “He put it right where I wanted it.”

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Strath Haven’s J.T. Holstein, left, and Archbishop Wood’s Shawn Trodden battle for the ball in the first period in the PIAA Class 3A semifinal game Tuesday night at Methacton. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)