By Todd Stanford
The Daily Item
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LEWISBURG — If Lewisburg’s Zack Vaji thought that a switch to defense would mean a decrease in offensive production this season, he might have to rethink that notion.
Vaji — who scored 10 goals last year but moved to the back line this season due to graduation and injury — scored twice as the Green Dragons rallied for a 3-2 victory over Selinsgrove on Tuesday.
“It took us a little bit to get going,” first-year Lewisburg coach Shawn Callender said. “You have to give the credit to these guys for not giving up and working through it.”
The Green Dragons, the defending Heartland Athletic Conference Division I champions, opened their season and defense of their league title with a come-from-behind win. They trailed the Seals (2-1, 0-1 HAC-I) 2-0 at halftime, but came up big with three goals after intermission.
“We talked about if we just got one, we’re back in the game,” Callender said. “You saw the momentum switch a little bit when we got that one.”
Callender, the former Middleburg and Midd-West coach, began his tenure with Lewisburg in familiar fashion: In 2002, in his first day as the Middies’ head coach, he led them to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Selinsgrove.
“You have to feel good about what we did here, being down two,” he said. “We talked at the half that we just had to get one. Good things happened for us at the end.”
Owen Griffith scored the Green Dragons’ other goal with a marvelous header in the 48th minute. Gannon Keller and Bryan Heffner scored Selinsgrove’s goals in the first half.
The Seals dominated play in the first half, only to see the Green Dragons take the momentum away and dominate in the second 40 minutes.
“We let down,” Seals coach Chris Lupolt said. “A two-goal lead is the worst lead to have in soccer.”
The tide began to turn in the 48th minute when Selinsgrove’s Kaelan Sullivan was whistled for a foul and given a yellow card. With a free kick just to the left of the box, Matthew Ayers put a serve up for Griffith, who soared in for a header that went upper 90 and put the Green Dragons on the scoreboard.
“That was a really big confidence boost,” Vaji said. “Our whole team just lifted up.”
Vaji leveled the match in the 55th minute. A Tommy Magill throw-in went into the box, and Ayers got it in the six-yard box before playing it back to a hard-charging Vaji, who buried it from the 18.
Vaji got the game-winner in the 73rd minute. Tyler Feltham sent a long pass into the box and Vaji ran onto it. He settled it with his chest, and then turned and booted it into the net on a half-volley.
“I just happened to get it off my chest, take a touch, and put it on goal,” Vaji said.
The Seals’ Eric Lose was sent off immediately after the play. It was a hard red, so Selinsgrove had the finish the game with 10 players.
“I thought maybe after they scored their second goal that we were going to hold,” Lupolt said. “But that last goal, it was like everybody stopped.”
Keller opened the scoring in the ninth minute. Spencer Hotaling put in a serve from midfield, and Dragons keeper Christian Gallagher bobbled it. Keller then booted it home.
In the 19th minute, Alex Lupolt sent a pass across the top of the box that David Aurand dummied. Heffner got it and dribbled in before blasting a shot off a Lewisburg defender and into the net.
“You have to give them a lot of credit,” Callender said of the Seals. “They came out early on and put some pressure on us.”
Lewisburg had a few chances before the break. Griffith sent a volley over the crossbar off a cross from Brett Lynch, and Lynch later knocked a shot over goalkeeper Josh Moyer’s head that was going in before Seals defender Andrew Pomykalski cleared it off the line.
“(Assistant) coach (Dave) Klinger says that a goal saved is a goal earned,” Lupolt said. “That’s like scoring a goal for us.”
