Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
SOUTH MIDDLETON TWP. -- Alfredo Olguin isn’t a name that typically lives on headlines, but Monday night’s performance might have changed his career trajectory. At the very least, the Lower Dauphin senior prolonged the career of his and his classmates. That’s because Olguin read Bubblers keeper Eli Ackerson’s posture out the net during the 66th minute as the midfielder pocketed the golden goal in No. 11 seed Lower Dauphin’s 1-0 win over No. 6 Boiling Springs in a District 3 Class 3A opening-round game. Lower Dauphin (11-6-2), entering the District 3 playoffs for the first time since the 2023 season, walked into a hostile Bubbletown environment with a chip on its shoulder. No.6 Boiling Springs, which was recently crowned Mid-Penn Colonial division champions, carried momentum for three-quarters of the match but couldn’t come up with the winner. But Olguin could. “It was perfect off the right side.” Olguin told PennLive. “I [saw] it right on the angle and it was perfect. Hit it right off my left. It was an unreal moment through a crowd of people.” It was a hotly-contested battle to start the match as both programs were at each other’s necks. Not letting off a run, choppiness on the pitch and both trading, it was everything you wanted in the playoffs. Jon Becker, Lucas Patterson and Patrice Ibrahim helped steer the Bubblers, while the Falcons’ Brady Heffleger and Kaiden Ketty kept things afloat heading into a scoreless match at halftime. The chapter repeated the same for the majority of the second half. Both programs upped the tempo offensively, several fouls were called in situations, and while every each team attempted to outdo each other on creative ways to score, it ultimately came down to 66:47. Olguin gave off one of the most beautiful shots of his career to remind District 3 that LD is back in the hunt. The Falcons kept their season alive at 11-6-2 and travel to No. 3 Susquehannock Thursday. The Bubblers ended their season at 15-4. They Said it “We played well as we were a team. The season has seen some ups and downs. We have had positive results to prove why we are here. It doesn’t matter who we play, the seed, or the location, we just want to prove that we can hang with anybody.” - Alfredo Olguin on his program’s mindset this postseason. “So very proud of how the boys played. We knew coming in here that it was going to be LD vs. the world. I’ve watched Boiling Springs play Northern last week, during our prep, and they gave Northern everything they could handle. We knew we couldn’t go toe-to-toe with a team like that. We played a bit conservative, but we caught them in a break and the rest was history. No easy games from here.” - LD coach Gerry Lynch.
