With both the boys and girls soccer seasons in the fall for the first time this year, the 32nd Annual Lions All-Star Soccer Classic was played nearly six months after the final kick for many of these local high school area players.

The Mountain Valley Conference/Colonial League boys gave up three goals in losing 3-0 to the Lehigh Valley Conference all-stars. The girls teams tied 2-2 in a rain shortened game. Both games were played last Sunday afternoon at Whitehall High School.

With the long layoff since the last time these players stepped on a soccer field, it was expected that there would be some rust. And most of the players have never played with their teammates before, except opposing ends.

For the first 15 minutes the teams tested each other and just tried to get back into the flow of soccer.

In the 17th minute, two Emmaus players connected on a nice aerial pass down the sidelines.

Ben Rhoda chipped a ball over the defense to a running AJ Bishop. Bishop eluded two defenders and laid off a pass to Parkland's Nick Hutchinson who ripped a shot into the back of the net for the first goal of the game.

"Playing with AJ, I've played with him almost all of my life," added Rhoda. "He's a great player and we know each other inside and out. [Kevin] Fine was able to contribute and help out in the back, so that worked out perfectly."

Rhoda got his name onto the score sheet just a little over two minutes later.

"It was a great experience playing with all of these guys because I know all of them through the high school ranks," said Rhoda. "It was great coming together and playing as a team."

The third Green Hornet to see action was goalie Kevin Fine, who came in after 29 minutes and helped to preserve the shutout for the LVC. Head coach Patrick Birns (Parkland) used three different goaltenders during the 80 minutes of play.

In the second half, Baidy Ba from Freedom stole an attempted back pass to the goalkeeper, and took one quick dribble to elude the goalie and put away the third and final goal.

The MVC/Colonial team had its chances, but could not capitalize. Team offensive MVP Jordan Ellison of Stroudsburg saw a couple of shots get saved into the hands of the LVC goaltenders.

Other notable area players that competed include Wathen and Skutnik's teammate Haris Sabovic, and Northern Lehigh's Tyler Hoppes.

In the girls game, the scoring was higher and at a quicker pace. In the fifth minute Pleasant Valley's Maria Cimino ripped a shot off the crossbar that just stayed out of the net. Just two minutes later, Callie Duliba of Palisades snuck a low shot under the legs of the LVC goalie Victoria Ruvolis for the first goal of the game.

Lightning forced a 45-minute delay at the end of the first half. With just a 20-minute second half, the teams combined for three goals.

Whitehall's Kayla Cunningham tallied her first eight minutes in. Dianna Connor of Pleasant Valley brought her team back into the lead with a 10 yard strike. But Cunningham, playing on her home turf, didn't want to go down with a loss in her last career high school game at Zephyr stadium. She leveled the score with just two minutes to play, and the teams ended at a 2-2 draw.