Cougars thump Golden Lions

Another hat trick for Dylan Klinger came quickly in Charleroi’s rout of Greensburg Salem.

Dylan Klinger scored a hat trick in just under six minutes, and 11 Charleroi players scored goals as the Cougars dominated Greensburg Salem in a 15-0 victory Tuesday night.

Apart from Klinger’s three goals, Landon Barcus and Blake Pendo had two each while Matt Burkholder, Gage Patterson, Otis McIntyre, Nico Fiordigili, Brock Henderson, Luke Mazon, Declan Carter and John Herard also added goals. Assists came from Ethan Hartley (2), Mazon (2), Barcus, Herard and Chase Taylor.

“We came out strong and hard like we should, and it was a good performance overall,” Charleroi coach Tim Laskey said. “It’s a challenge to keep them focused in games like this, but I definitely feel like their performance was good.”

The Cougars (11-0, 10-0) began their barrage from kickoff as it took just 18 seconds for Klinger to find the back of the net after he was played forward. He dribbled into the Greensburg Salem (2-12, 1-9) box and placed a shot into the bottom left corner out of the reach of goalkeeper Alexander Swatchick to make it 1-0 quickly.

Charleroi could have added to its lead two minutes later when Barcus and Klinger were alone on goal, but Barcus elected for a shot that was saved by Swatchick.

Klinger added to his total again just before the fifth minute as he was slipped through and again came up with a tidy finish to the bottom left to make it 2-0.

A minute later, Klinger completed his hat trick as Mazon played him between the Greensburg Salem center backs and he deposited the same finish into the back of the net. Just 5:49 had passed when Klinger registered his third goal.

Swatchick then started working his way into the match, stopping another shot before he also caught a free kick.

But the onslaught continued from the Cougars as two more goals came in three minutes. Pendo scored on a goal assisted by Barcus before the latter got on the scoresheet after a pass from Hartley. With 20:59, Barcus added his second goal before Charleroi made it 7-0 in under a minute.

There was 20:04 left in the first half when two defenders, Amoroso and Burkholder, ventured upfield and combined for a goal. Amoroso unleashed a strong shot that Swatchick deflected away, but it went right to Burkholder and he was able to finish the chance.

The Cougars continued to push forward, but the Golden Lions avoided conceding another goal before halftime as the score remained 7-0 after the first half.

In the second half, Henderson scored after seven minutes as he took advantage of a mistake from the Golden Lions and bagged a goal before Fiordigigli scored on a penalty kick that Patterson drew.

Pendo scored with 27:53 left before Taylor played an impressive pass to McIntyre that he was able to lace into the back of the net just three and a half minutes later. From there, Mazon set up Patterson’s goal before adding one of his own, Herard scored on a pass from Hartley and Herard then set up a goal from Carter with 19 seconds left to cap off the scoring at 15-0.

Laskey was happy with another opportunity to shuffle the lineup and get plenty of players minutes, as he says it bodes well for the future of the team.

“We’re not just developing a season, we’re developing a program,” he said. “That’s the intent, and fortunately, we’ve been able to do it a few times this season.”

After such a productive match, the Cougars are hopeful that they can continue their success in Section 4-2A against Brownsville on Thursday.

“The challenge is to keep them focused and hungry every game,” Laskey said. “We’re keeping fresh legs by being able to sub throughout the game and they know that every chance they get into the game, they want to take advantage of it.”