PALMYRA – All the Palmyra boys soccer team wanted, to a man, was a shot to play Mid-Penn Conference Keystone Division rival Hershey one more time.

And the Cougars earned that postseason wish Monday night by easily handling Donegal, 3-0, on their home turf in a District 3, 3A semifinal match.

Second-seeded Palmyra (16-2-1) advances to the 3A final and faces top-seeded Hershey (17-2-1) Thursday night at Hersheypark Stadium for the District 3, 3A crown. The Trojans edged Fleetwood, 1-0, in the other Monday semifinal to punch their ticket to the dance. The teams split their season series with one win apiece.

"(Hershey) is a very good team, they're kind of the gold standard, them and Lower Dauphin, so we know we have to go and earn it come Thursday," said Palmyra coach Jeff Wilver. "We're excited, that was our goal coming in. We felt we'd be very fortunate if we got another crack at Hershey. I feel it's the two best teams going at it. That's really all you can ask for."

Palmyra jumped all over Donegal in the first three minutes of the game, peppering goalkeeper Neville Ncube with point-blank shots. Ironically, the game's opening goal came on a 50-yard direct kick from senior Nolan Cieselka in the 10thminute. Cieselka's high, booming drive just evaded the outstretched arms of Ncube and nestled under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead.

"From midfield, we generally in those situations want to put one in the mixer and give our guys a chance on the other end," Wilver said. "The lights are bright, I don't know if the keeper lost it, but a goal is a goal this time of year and we'll take it.

"We've kind of made it an emphasis that we have the players and personnel to jump on teams early," Wilver added. "We think that if we can get on the board early, usually, we can set the pace and the tone with our style of play. So, we kind of emphasize the first 10 minutes of each half starting well and I thought we did that in both halves tonight."

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