The 2019-2020 Cement Belt challenge kicked off with the Whitehall boys soccer team drawing first blood on Northampton’s home field with a 4-2 victory.

A few hours later, the Konkrete Kids’ girls soccer team evened the standings by scoring a 2-0 win on the Zephyrs’ home turf.

Senior tri-captain Abbi Czarnecki got Northampton on the board in the first 5 minutes of the game when she took a pass from Alex Benedict and slotted the ball under the goalie’s arms.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever scored against Whitehall in my four years playing for Northampton,” Czarnecki said. “It’s the first time we’ve beaten Whitehall (in her tenure), so I’m pretty excited.”

Northampton almost had a second goal with 7:30 remaining in the first half. Isabella Nota took a Czarnecki feed and hit a ringing shot off the left post.

Nota converted three minutes later when she poked the ball away from the Zephyr goalie and buried the shot into the center of the open net. Raine Korpics assisted on the goal.

Reigning EPC MVP Kate Bonshak almost got Whitehall right back into the game 20 seconds later, but Kids’ keeper Payce Korpics came up with the save and the half ended 2-0.

Bonshak created three quality scoring opportunities in the second half, but two of her runs were corralled by the Northampton defense and Korpics came up with another big save to keep her clean sheet.

Korpics and Zephyr keeper Grace Clary both recorded nine saves on the night.

Whitehall head coach Chris Bleam was frank in the assessment of the teams’ performances.

“I thought that we were outplayed,” said Bleam. “The energy that Northampton brought was far superior to ours and that was the difference in the game. They played with passion, heart, and desire and clearly wanted the game more than our kids did.”

Northampton head coach Michael Missmer offered his assessment.

“We try to be a possession team,” he said. “When we play these teams where kicking the long ball is their main strategy, our strategy is, ‘If you can’t get the ball, you can’t do that.’ Our back line stepped up like I knew they would. Hannah Werkheiser had the game of her life.”

The rematch will take place Sept. 30 in Northampton.

There figures to be more than just a Cement Belt Challenge point on the line during that contest as the teams will be making a push to secure EPC and District XI playoff berths.

Central topped Whitehall in girls soccer action from this week.

Katie Winchilla and Maya Kauffman scored for the Vikings.

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The Whitehall boys dropped a game to Emmaus, 3-2 on Monday night.

Whitehall had a 2-0 lead in the game and led 1-0 after the first half.

Kresstoph Whittick got Whitehall on the board on an assist from Abdul Ojulari-Sulyman. The Zephs Ziyad Atiyeh would make it 2-0 on a help from Whittick in the second half.

But back came Emmaus with three-straight second half goals.

Andrew Gaines, Alexander Toto and Jake Groh all scored unassisted for the Hornets.

Whitehall Justin Mattison made 12 saves while the Hornets Chris Buck stopped six.

EHS outshot WHS 18-9.