As a two-sport star for Whitehall in the fall season alone, senior Kylee Cunningham couldn’t afford to waste any time. In between a pivotal early afternoon EPC girls soccer tournament game last Saturday up in Pleasant Valley, followed by a league field hockey game back in Emmaus just hours later, the Zephyr senior knew it would be a hectic day.

So, with the clock winding down in regulation and Whitehall and Pleasant Valley deadlocked at a 1-1 tie, it looked as if overtime was on the horizon. But Cunningham had other plans in mind.

Cunningham received a pass from Kate Bonshak on the right side of Pleasant Valley’s goal, unmarked, and wasted little time in punching home the game-winning tally with less than three minutes to play. That goal kept Cunningham’s schedule on plan, getting back to Emmaus High School in enough time for a 3:30 p.m. start in an EPC field hockey quarterfinals game.

“Our coaches, athletic director and parents all help us out,” Cunningham said. “They work really hard to keep the amount of complexity to the least.”

The goal itself came after both teams controlled the ball throughout the middle of the field for much of the second half. Shots were minimal on both sides, but Whitehall took advantage of their opportunities when presented. And it couldn’t have come at a more timely moment.

“Kylie Saliby had a nice diagonal ball to Kate Bonshak on the outside,” Cunningham said. “She had two defenders on her and she just slipped it through and I finished it…It was just in the moment. I think every forward knows what they have to do, and their job is to put the ball in the back of the net. That’s what I focused on.”

Both Cunningham and head coach Chris Bleam were quick to note the turning point in the second half that helped Whitehall advance after Pleasant Valley tied the game late in the first half. Taylor Merklin lofted a ball inside the 18-yard mark when Darby Reiss was there to punch in a right-footed boot out of mid-air for the equalizer.

“Ella Holmes started to work like crazy to disrupt their central midfield,” Bleam said. “I thought that created some problems…We were playing too slowly earlier in the half and those balls were getting either intercepted, blocked, or not even attempted. [Bonskak] finally was able to get her body faced directly and placed it early, and then two special players made a play.”

One of those special players, Cunningham, came through early for Whitehall with a goal in the 21st minute that put the Zephyrs in front 1-0.

“We came out a little flat, but we knew we had to come out hard in the second half,” Cunningham said. “They did control it for the first little bit. But then Ella Holmes, a freshman, came out and she worked really hard and picked up our momentum.”

The Zephyrs advanced to the semifinals round where they faced unbeaten Parkland on Tuesday night. The Trojans kept its record unblemished with an 8-0 victory.