The Schuylkill Haven coaching staff thought it was a moment made for Rylee Brown.

They were right.

As Brown fired the ball into the back of the net, the senior sent the Hurricanes past Northern Lehigh 5-4 in overtime Tuesday to help Haven punch its ticket to the District 11 Class 1A semifinals.

“She has played three years as a defender, and we’ve been putting her as a sub striker,” said Hurricanes’ head coach Scott Burcik. “My coach (assistant Mykal McCulloch) called it, he’s like, ‘I think this is a Rylee Brown finishing game.’

“And she is able to collect a ball, turn and fire a shot real quick. So we put her at that position for that type of situation, and she did it.”

The goal ended a back-and-forth battle between two talented programs

Katelyn Barthold’s second goal of the game for the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (13-6) with just over two minutes to play in regulation tied the score at 4-4.

“Two evenly matched teams,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Jason Reinhard. “Schuylkill Haven did a tremendous job. They work so hard. They’re really well coached. They did a great job. They went up and they won this game.”

Barthold’s tying goal came after freshman Kylie Siket scored her fourth goal of the game to put the fifth-seeded Hurricanes (12-7) up 4-3 with 3:57 to play.

Siket had two chances in the final minute and a half after Barthold tied it, putting a ball across the front of the goal and another shot wide.

Senior Victoria Hanna gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead just 21 seconds into the second half when she finished off a goal on an assist from Barthold.

A little over five minutes later, Siket recorded the hat trick to make it a 3-3 with 34:04 to play.

The teams continued to pressure and generate opportunities, with Barthold racing in and getting a shot on goal a minute after Siket scored to tie it. Barthold’s shot hit the post, and skipped across the front of the goal.

“We watched their game and we knew that their two strikers (Hanna and Barthold) would go at us hard and they would just put it at them, put it at them, put it at them,” said Burcik. “We planned for it, and those two strikers are solid and you can’t let up on them at all.

“It also lets us be a little more defensive and allow our top players, offensive players, to just do their thing, too.”

Both squads pushed throughout the overtime. Brown had a chance midway through the 15-minute period with the ball in front of the net, but wasn’t able to finish the scoring chance.

She ended it about five minutes later.

“These are the moments that you work hard all summer long, to be able to play 80-plus minutes,” said Burcik. “The motivation, the perseverance to just keep going at them, to not back off. Overtime, they just decided to put more at them.”

Siket opened the scoring with her first goal of the game around 12 minutes into the first half.

Gabriella Hanna equalized for the Bulldogs with 24:18 remaining in the half, and Barthold scored her first goal of the game less than a minute later to make it 2-1.

The score would hold until Siket scored her second of the game to make it 2-2 with around 12:00 to play in the first half.

UP NEXT

... Schuylkill Haven will face top seed Pine Grove Thursday in the semifinals.

SIKET SHINES

... Burcik had high praise for his freshman. “That was her best game, period,” the coach said of Siket. “I think she equaled her goal output all season in one game. Offensively, we meant to go at their corners, and it just opened up for her.”

REMARKABLE SEASON

... The Bulldogs enjoyed a tremendous season and will return the majority of their lineup next fall with just three seniors (Victoria Hanna, Jayden Fischer and Arabella Heintzelman) on the roster. Barthold, a junior, is the school’s all-time leader in points, goals, and girls leader in assists. The squad also set a school record for wins in a season this year with 13. “They’re a great group of girls. They fight, they scrap, but they are the nicest group of kids you will ever meet in your life,” said Reinhard. “We have four of the school’s top 10 leaders in girls scoring on this team. So many great things that happened this year. It will be easier to see all that in a week once this starts to heal.”