Soccer and basketball have one thing in common: No matter how many shots are taken, only those that go into the net are the ones that count.

The Jim Thorpe boys soccer team dominated Nativity in the first half - outshooting them 16-4. But only one of those shots counted.

The Olympians, though, never let up their aggressiveness and defeated the Hilltoppers, 3-1, in a Schuylkill League quarterfinal game played Sunday.

Thorpe (13-6) will now host Blue Mountain in a semifinal contest Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“I haven’t seen this team (this season) so I didn’t know what to expect,” said Olympian head coach Michael Dudak. “We’re a possession team, and that was our plan.”

In the first 33 minutes of the first half, the Olympians had 11 shots on goal while Nativity had just one.

But then Jim Thorpe senior Cael Heaney, who was about 10 feet straight-on in front of the goal, took a pass on his right side from freshman Kayden Spence and blasted it into the net with 6:38 showing.

Until that time, Nativity goalie Nolan Kokitus had nine saves.

“We started out a little conservative as far as pushing forward because we wanted to see what they had,” Dudak said. “The possessions seemed to help us in the first half.”

In the second half, Ehren Hassler targeted a shot from the sideline straight past the goalkeeper to give the Olympians a 2-0 lead with 28:29 showing on the clock.

“That was a great shot,” said Dudak. “Ehren’s a real strong player. He’s a real strong shot from the outside.”

However, eight minutes later Nativity’s Ethan Grabowski took an out-of-bounds pass, spun to his right and kicked the ball straight into the net to keep his team in the game.

The final goal of the night came when Henry Snyder kicked from just in front of the right corner, sending the ball at the goalie. Kokitus lost his balance and was ruled in the net when the ball came at him.

Dudas gave credit to Kokitus for keeping the game close.

“Their keeper’s very good,” he said. “There’s a few that shouldn’t have been saves. They should have been in the back of the net. He certainly kept them in the game.”

Nativity coach Ed Burke agreed.

“He keeps us in every game,” said Burke. “He makes some saves that we don’t know how he does it.

“But you know, you can’t keep letting a team knock at the door that many times without scoring.”

Burke also said his main scorer - Michael Kadziela - had been injured and just returned. Kadziela is the leading scorer in the league with 28 goals and 13 assists.

Jim Thorpe’s goalkeeper Liam Off was unchallenged for most of the night. He grabbed some errant Nativity kicks, but needed to make only one save the entire first half and four in the second half. Kokitus finished with 17 saves Nativity.

The Olympians had 24 shots on goal compared to four for the Hilltoppers. For Thorpe, Noah Geiser had six shots, Hassler and Heaney both had five, and Snyder and Hayden Meckes had three each.

HEANEY EARNS COACH’S RESPECT ... Although Coach Dudas was happy with his entire team’s performance, he gave high praise to Cael Heaney. “He was moving the ball around,” said Dudas. “He was controlling a lot of the offense, which is really important when you play better teams. It worked out really well for us tonight.”

CORNER SHOTS ... The Olympians had six corner shots in the game, three in each half. Nativity shot from the corners twice, once in each half.

LOOKING FORWARD TO TUESDAY ... Coach Dudas said he’s looking forward to Tuesday’s contest with Blue Mountain. “We match up with them pretty well,” he said. The two teams met twice earlier this season with the Eagles winning both outings.

SEASON NOT OVER FOR NATIVITY ... Despite the loss, the season will continue for Nativity with the team qualifying for the District 11 playoffs. Jim Thorpe also will be in the districts regardless how they fare against Blue Mountain.