She squared up the ball, and then booted her team into the record books.

Jim Thorpe senior Lydia Wallace scored after a pass from Lexi Marotto with just over 12 minutes to go in the first half Monday to lead the Olympians to a 1-0 win over Blue Mountain in a play-in game for the Schuylkill League girls soccer tournament.

Wallace’s kick was from 15 yards out and hit the crossbar before bouncing into the back of the net. The historic goal had three moments of significance.

First was the win over the Eagles. During the regular season, both teams were 6-6 in the league and had split their two games.

Second, Jim Thorpe’s victory sends it into the league tournament for the first time in school history.

And third, the goal was Wallace’s 50th of her career.

“Playing on turf, I thought we had an advantage,” said Wallace. “I used my speed to get the ball down field. When I felt I had the shot, I just took it.”

That her game-winning goal was the 50th of her career, and also lifted her team into the league semifinals, made it all the more special for Wallace.

“(Reaching 50) has been a goal since my freshman year,” she said. “(Advancing to the league tournament) is awesome. We had only five wins when I started here, and we lost 10-0 to Blue Mountain that year. There’s nothing better I could ask for.”

Blue Mountain (8-10) carried the action during the first five minutes of the game, with several rushes and a nifty back kick on goal by Morgan Yuengling. At the 33-minute mark, the Eagles’ Kera Paul rushed to the goal mouth, only to have the ball kicked away by Thorpe defender Ehlauna Penn. Minutes later, Penn ran off another close-in rush by Yuengling.

With 25 minutes to go, Thorpe just missed on an opportunity when Lauren LeKites sent a long kick that found Nicole Carroll in front. LeKites would get a shot off 10 minutes later, but the ball sailed wide left.

With seven minutes to go in the half, Carroll’s header went wide left of Blue Mountain’s goalkeeper Angelina White. The Eagles stormed down field, but Erin McKivigan’s hard shot was saved by Olympian netminder Kate Bos.

“I thought we started slow at first, but then we settled in,” said Thorpe head coach Tom Condly. “We’re young, but we have a lot of soccer experience, and it showed tonight.”

In the second half, Blue Mountain was on the attack in the first five minutes, and dominated field position for much of the final 40 minutes. Thorpe (11-6) stood strong when the game became physical. At one point, there was a four-girl pile up in front of the Olympian goal mouth. The Eagles, however, could never manage a difficult shot for Bos to save.

“We played well, but we just couldn’t finish,” said Blue Mountain mentor Adam Freeman. “We kicked the long ball too much instead of passing and advancing the field.”

McKivigan had a good chance in front of the goal crease with 30 minutes left, but Kelli Hogarty hustled back to kick the ball away.

With 20 to go, Thorpe’s best chance to get an insurance goal was Wallace’s long free kick that was saved by White. Blue Mountain would counter with two corner kick opportunities, the latter resulting in an easy save for Bos.

The Olympians tightened their defense for the last 13 minutes of the game, never allowing Blue Mountain to get a shot off up close.

“We put Lydia back on defense, and that helped us clog things up,” said Condly.

Blue Mountain managed six shots, while Thorpe had seven. White made two saves, and Bos had four.

THE GAME MVP ... Condly praised the defensive play of Penn, who stopped several rushes before the Eagles could muster shots up close. “She was our MVP tonight,” said Condly.

DÉJÀ VU ... Just six days ago, Thorpe beat Blue Mountain by the same score of 1-0. Condly remarked that with the new turf on the football field, he hoped his team had played its last game on the Olympians baseball outfield.

UP NEXT ... Thorpe faces Division 2 champion Minersville tonight at 5 p.m. in the first semifinal game at North Schuylkill. The second game features Williams Valley against Pottsville. The title game will be played Thursday, also at North Schuylkill, at 7 p.m.